


Vixen

by CallMeCaptain24



Series: Vixen [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: ACCURATE, Assassins, Avengers Tower, Bachelor Party, Baseball, Bucky is actually 2nd under protective and Dean Winchester is 1st, Bucky/Steve - Freeform, F/M, Hydra, I mean ok then, M/M, Malibu, Marvel - Freeform, Multi, New York, New York City, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 (Movie), Protective Steve Rogers, Spying, Stark Tower, Steve gets hit in the nuts, Strippers & Strip Clubs, Stucky - Freeform, Tony Stark's Daughter, Why is Protective Steve Rogers 3rd and not 1st, bc secrets, spys
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-10-24
Packaged: 2019-06-06 20:36:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 14
Words: 35,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15202970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CallMeCaptain24/pseuds/CallMeCaptain24
Summary: Set Post-Averngers: Infinity War Part 2. My heart can't handle Part 1 so assume all things have been fixed.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Set Post-Averngers: Infinity War Part 2. My heart can't handle Part 1 so assume all things have been fixed.

“Do you understand the mission?” Boots tap against the concrete floor and a sharp smack resonated throughout the room. “Vixen?”  
“Yes, sir”  
“You have 24 hours. Go.”

“Should Peter really be here?” Steve asked, eying the scantily clad waiters and waitresses. Colored lights flashed through the dark space and across a stage with multiple poles strategically placed around it.  
“Lighten up, Cap! He’s having a blast!” Tony clapped Steve on the shoulder. “You just need to get that stick out of your ass - sorry, tush.” Tony chuckled to himself and wandered off towards Clint.  
Steve rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed. Bruce popped up next to him. “Don’t worry, Steve. I think between you, me, and Thor, we can manage to control the children.” A crash sounded behind them accompanied by Thor’s laughter. “Well, maybe just you and me.”  
How Captain America ended up at a strip club in Malibu with most of the Avengers already drunk off their asses is beyond him. Logically, he knows how but...he’s getting too old for this shit.  
“Bruce, it’s your bachelor party. You should be getting drunk with them.”  
“Getting drunk...isn’t really my thing. Besides, the big guy doesn’t do well when I let loose. Too easy for him to come out.” He shrugged.  
“And Tony knows this?” Steve raised an eyebrow.  
“He’s hoping for it.”  
“Let’s go, you two! I got us the best seats in the house!” Suddenly, Steve found himself being herded to a table front and center of the stage. Some type of rock music was playing loudly as they all settled in their seats. Tony shot up next to Steve, a champagne bottle appearing from nowhere, their party turned their eyes to the billionaire. “A toast! To Bruce! May you be a doctor on the streets and a Hulk in the sheets!”  
Thor, Clint, and Sam hooted in laughed while Peter drunkly clapped. Poor kid had no idea what he was getting into when he agreed to join the Avengers.  
Suddenly a male voice boomed across the dark strip club. “Ladies and gentlemen! Please put your hands together for our guest dancer of the night! Lady V!”  
Applause and cheers rang through the room. On stage, a black silhouette appeared at the top of the stairs. Steve took a sip of his champagne and settled back in his chair. His friends jeered along with the rest of the crowd and Steve rolled his eyes. He had never been one to enjoy strip clubs. Sure, Bucky dragged him to a few places when they were younger but he had never been comfortable seeing barely clothed men and women. A job is a job though and Steve did not judge any of the dancers for their work, got to put food on the table somehow.  
A semi-familiar song blared through the speakers as the dancer stepped seductively down the stairs and onto the main stage. Steve recalled Sam having him listen to what was called a “mash-up”, popular songs mixed together into one. This seemed to be one of them but Steve couldn’t recall the names of the songs he was hearing. The woman was still in shadow but something about her movements made the Captain track her every step. A spot light shone down on her, illuminating a young woman with dark brown hair dressed in a skin tight leather dress with a see-through material down the sides, showing off her light skin. Thigh high boots tapped rhythmically down the stage towards their table. Stopping at a pole locating right in front of their table, the woman began to move gracefully to the music, spinning herself around. Steve felt a nudge on his side and turned to see an amused look on Tony’s face.  
“You’re going to start catching flies in there.” He chuckled and drank more champagne. Movement out of his peripheral caused Steve to look up just in time. The woman, Lady V, was suddenly straddling his lap. Steve could feel his face turning a dark crimson immediately.  
“Woohoo! Go, Captain!” Peter yelled across the table.  
“Hey, soldier. Mind if I take a seat?” Brown coffee eyes met Steve’s and all he could do was swallow and nod. A hand ran along the back of his neck, running through his hair as the woman gyrating above him. She smiled and said. “First time?”  
“I-uh-what?” He stuttered. Damn he needed to calm down. Or take a cold shower. This was about to get embarrassing real fast.  
“At a strip club? Good boy like you isn’t a regular at this kind of place.” She whispered in his ear. Steve felt as if every nerve in his body was on fire. Lady V maneuvered herself up and around so that she was now facing the stage and had her back against his chest. It happened so fast he wasn’t even sure how she did it. She tilted her head back against his shoulder and smiled an inch from his face. “Thanks for the dance, soldier.”  
Pushing herself off of him, she strutted back to the stage and returned to the pole in front of them to continue to dance. Steve carefully moved his legs to make his tented pants less obvious but Tony smirked when he caught the movement. Damn bastard. It wasn’t Steve’s fault he hadn’t been laid in...a while. Bucky had gone back to Wakanda for research last week and he wasn’t sure when he’d be back.   
Although, he was sorely tempted to try anyway with Lady V. His eyes wouldn’t leave her even as the music rolled to a close and the lights turned dark. Cheers erupted around the room as Lady V disappeared.  
“Captain America, what on Earth would the country think of you lusting after a stripper? I’m shocked.” Tony clapped him on the shoulder. Shaking his head, Steve tried to focus on his friends but he couldn’t get the young woman out of his head.  
“You ok, man?” Bruce asked quietly, looking at him with concern.  
“Fine.” He answered quickly. No need to worry the doctor, Steve was sure the strange feeling would pass in a moment. Another dancer appeared on stage, a woman dressed as a cowboy. Steve watched her routine but his mind was elsewhere. There was something about that Lady V that he couldn’t quite put his finger on.  
A blonde woman appeared at Steve’s elbow and leaned close to his ear. “Excuse me, sir? Your room is ready.”  
“Room?” He asked in a daze. Tony spoke up beside him.  
“Just for you, Captain! Let the girl repay you for your service to your country!”  
“I can’t-”  
“If you’ll follow me, sir.” The blonde gestured for Steve to follow her. Reluctantly, he stood up and followed her, his so-called friends hooting in encouragement. He was brought down a dim hallway and lead into a tasteful but sparse room. A sofa, armchair, and table with refreshments sat along the each wall. The blonde gestured to the armchair. “She’ll be with you in a moment.”  
And then he was alone. Waiting. Quietly. Steve stood up and began to pace in nervousness. This was a terrible idea. He should just go back-  
“SHE WHAT?!”  
Steve quietly cracked the door open to the hallway to investigate the noise outside.  
“Damn strippers! Can’t trust any of them! Grab another and have her go in. No way I’m loosing out on that much cash.” A short, round man growled to a taller, stocky man covered in tattoos. “Hurry!”  
Closing the door, Steve returned to the chair in the middle of the room. Disappointment washed through him. He had actually been excited about seeing Lady V at least once more. He couldn’t believe what he was feeling though. A stripper. He was disappointed about not seeing a certain stripper. He needed to get out more. Just as he was about to stand up and rejoin his friends, the door handle turned. A red-headed young woman entered the room and flashed him a wide smile.  
“I heard you were looking for Lady V. Unfortunately, she had to go but maybe I can help you out?” She asked with a hopeful look.  
He could do this. It was just...a lap dance? He honestly didn’t know what Tony had paid for but he could do this. He was an adult. Hell, he was Captain America. “I think you can, doll.”

Target acquired.  
And that assbutt thought it would take me 24 hours.  
Parking the stolen Prius at the end of the driveway, I strolled up to the mansion. Mentally, I scratched off “Steal access codes from Tony Stark’s phone” of my to-do list. Now, to just get the files and get back to base. This was way too easy, I should’ve stopped for In-and-Out. Admiring the actually tasteful landscaping of the house, I walked up to the door and reached for the keypad. Then the door swung open. What. The fuck.  
“Good evening, Miss Stark.”


	2. Chapter 2

All my brain cells just died. That or I’m starting to hallucinate. The disembodied voice did not just-  
“Will you be coming inside, Miss Stark?”  
Pulling my Smith & Wesson from my leg holster, I slowly crept into the white foyer. The entire room screamed posh. Not just money but tasteful money. Like outside, everything was decorated to be aesthetically pleasing. It kind of bothered me. A few personal pictures littered the walls but there were no random coats or shoes lying around. Too neat. Every other house I had broken into looked at least somewhat homey. Not that I had any personal experience with that but I knew what it was.  
“No weapons are needed, Miss Stark. All occupants are currently out.”  
“You keep calling me that but I think you’ve got your wires crossed. My last name is Belle.” I said to the air. There still wasn’t a body to connect to the voice and it was disconcerting.  
“Scan shows 50% Anthony Stark DNA and 50% Katrina Belle DNA. Traditionally, humans take the father’s last name. All life forms are scanned on any of the Stark premises. DNA was read by a hair follicle dropped on the driveway. Mr. Stark is very particular about who has access to this property.”  
“Stark?” My mind was still stuck on the 50% Tony Stark part of that statement. I had Tony fucking Stark DNA. Holstering my gun, I ran my hand over my face and realized I was probably having a heart attack. And talking to a house. And finding my dad. Jesus, and I thought I needed therapy before.  
“Yes, miss.” There was a pause as if the voice was contemplating its next words. “Elevated heart rate suggests you may be suffering from a panic attack, Miss Stark. Do you require any assistance?”  
“No.” I forced myself to take a breath. Must not loose my actual mind. Breathe, damn it. “What’s your name?”  
“FRIDAY, miss.”  
“Friday. Ok. I’m good, Friday. But thanks.” Training kicked in quickly and all non-mission related thoughts were shoved into a box to look at at a later date. Like tomorrow. “And please, call me Vixen.”  
“Of course, Miss Vixen.”  
“Say Friday, any chance you have an ETA on the old man and company?” I asked, placing Stark’s phone on a side table. I pulled up my long brown hair into a ponytail and wandered into a spacious living room with glass walls scattered about.  
“To which old man are you referring to, Miss Vixen? Your father or Captain Rodgers? Your father typically refers to the Captain as ‘old man’.”  
“Daddy-o, Friday.” I rolled my eyes. The fact that I had to clarify that is slightly worrying.  
“ETA is 2.5 hours, Miss Vixen.”  
Tapping away on a keypad near one of the glass walls made a computer system pop up. Convenient. And here I thought I would have to wander down to the lab. Not that I wasn’t going to do that anyway. The floor semantics I had studied before the mission showed the remodeled house was similar to the original mansion that Stark had built and then been blown up a few years ago. Clearly he had updated a few things. The new semantics had also shown a separation between the lab and garage where there hadn’t been one before. And a smaller garage. Wasn’t all that surprising considering the man publicly moved into the Avengers Tower in New York. Seems that the Malibu mansion was just for when he was on the west coast. “And how long would it take to download files from your server?”  
“Depends on which files, miss.”  
“All of them.”  
FRIDAY hummed for a moment before answering. “Around 12.5 hours. Although I don’t believe all the data will fit onto one flash drive.”  
“I guess I’ll have to prioritize it. I have two drives I’d like to get some files on.” Taking a moment to rifle through the files, a folder presented itself that seemed...important. Quickly connecting the flash drives, I dropped that file into one of the drives. “I’ll set you up with the key words that I need, Friday and you can download any of the files that seem relevant. Sound good?”  
“Do you have any preference on which flash drive will contain certain data?”  
“Anything pertaining to the Avengers on one and everything else on the other. The drive with everything else first then the Avengers drive. If you have any questions, I’ll be...exploring.” I grinned. I could explore quite a bit in two and a half hours.  
“Yes, miss.”  
“Thanks, Friday.”

“I swear it’s like he thinks he’s in college again when he gets this drunk.” Pepper sighed, following Natasha and Wanda up the walkway.  
“Don’t worry, Bruce and Steve will make sure he doesn’t buy you a small country again.” Nat smiled at the worried business woman.  
“That was one-”  
Wanda interrupted. “Who’s that?”  
Pepper and Natasha both turned to see who Wanda was pointing to. A young girl, dark brown hair pulled high in a ponytail, was in front of one of Tony’s advanced computer screens. Black leggings, black leather jacket, this girl clearly shopped at Assassins-R-Us, Nat thought wryly. Narrowing her eyes, she pulled out a gun and pointed it at the girl through the window.  
“Someone who’s going to regret their life choices in a moment.”

CRACK  
I jumped at least 10 feet in the air and spun around. Trained assassin or not, being shot at is scary as fuck especially when you’re not expecting it. Three women stood outside the house, one pointing a gun that she’d just fired off. At me. Shit.  
“FRIDAY! I thought you said ETA was 2 and a half hours.”  
“It has been 2.5 hours, Miss Vixen.”  
“Damn it, I knew I should’ve set a timer. ETA on the boys, Friday?” I hurried to close and erase any of the work I’d been doing.  
“1.78 minutes, Miss Vixen.”  
“Well, fuck me sideways.” This is what I get for playing with things I’m not supposed to. “Friday, secure all doors. How long can the house hold them off?”  
“It will not hold for long-”  
“How long, Friday?”  
Another gun shot rang through the living room. “Approximately 5 minutes.”  
Glancing out the window, I watched as 2 cars rolled up. Friday piped in again. “With the addition of Captain Rodgers it would be 2.75 minutes, Miss Vixen.”  
About 1 minute short of what I needed. Damn. Data or secrecy? I hate making last minute decisions. “Friday, stop all transfers. Disconnect drives. And tell me what kind of cars are stocked in that basement that go fast.”

“What’s going on?” Steve rushed up at seeing Nat with a gun raised at the window. One that had a few bullets lodged in it.  
“Intruder.” Nat grunted, shooting at the window again. Steve saw a figure moving about the living room but couldn’t see any distinguishing features through the glass.  
“Move back.” Steve rushed towards the glass, punching it as he went, shattering the window with a loud crash.  
“I JUST REPLACED THAT!” Screeched Tony.  
“I’ll buy you a new one.” Steve muttered. A flash of brown disappeared around the corner. Soldier-mode kicked in and Steve was already around the corner in a second. Looking down, he saw woman sliding down the banister. Damn, she was fast. Taking two steps at a time, Steve arrived in Tony’s garage just as an engine revved. Steve walked down the aisle towards the car.  
“Hey, soldier.” Steve bent down towards the passenger side to see the woman in a sleek black car. She tilted her sunglasses so she could look him in the eye and smiled coyly. Steve felt his entire stomach drop down to his toes. Lady V. The stripper. This was turning out to be one hell of a night. “Fancy seeing you here.”  
“Ma’am. Please step out of the vehicle.”  
“Hmm. Somehow I don’t think that would end well for me.” Smiled wider and revved the engine again. “Come on, Forest. Let’s see how fast you can run.”

Tony sputtered from his front porch as he watched Captain America race after his brand new Tesla. He flicked his wrist but nothing happened. Flicking it again, he groaned as nothing happened once again.  
“FRIDAY! WHERE IS MY SUIT?!”  
“All suits are offline, boss.”  
“EXCUSE ME?!” Tony roared.  
“All su-”  
“I HEARD YOU! What I don’t understand is how?”  
“Miss Vixen has temporarily locked all suits. They will be back online in 17 minutes.”  
“Miss Vixen. Has locked. MY SUITS?!” Breathing heavily, Tony marched past the crowd now gathered around his front door. “FRIDAY, pull up all security footage and show me what the hell this kid was looking at.”  
“Access denied, boss.”  
“FRIDAY I swear to God, I will scrap you and throw you into a blender. Pull up the damn files!”  
“Access denied. Per Miss Vixen, all files including previously viewed or tampered data, security videos, and files pertaining to Miss Vixen have been erased or locked. I apologize, boss. Miss Vixen was very precise in her orders.”  
“I am going to kill her.” Tony huffed. He stalked across the foyer and made his way to the basement. The rest of the team filtered in slowly. Suddenly, they heard a yell. “SHE CRASHED MY SUIT! SHE WAS IN ONE OF MY SUITS?! FRIDAY!”

Clint turned at the sound of footsteps. “Hey man, did you catch her?”  
“I lost her at the Santa Monica Pier. She had a ride waiting.” Steve barely seemed winded from his race as he joined the team gathered in Tony’s living room. “And uh, the car happened to go off the pier. Sorry, Stark.”  
“My car. My FRIDAY. WHO THE HELL IS SHE?” Tony paced back and forth.  
“The stripper.” All conversations in the room halted and collectively they turned to Bruce.  
“Excuse me?” Tony asked.  
“The stripper from tonight. Remember? The one you got for Steve.” A bright flush stained Steve’s cheeks at the mention of earlier. Nat raised an eyebrow in his direction. He’s surprised that Bruce got a good look at her before she got away though. It took him a moment to connect the dots even when she was in front of his face. Bruce continued. “It can’t be a coincidence that she singled Steve out. He was sitting right next to you. Your phone is still missing right?”  
“I probab-”  
“Dropped it?” Pepper asked, picking it up from the side table by the front door. She handed it to Tony, raising her eyebrow.  
“Son of a bitch.”  
“But why not perform her dance with Stark?” Thor asked, rubbing his head.  
“Too obvious. And Steve, you were acting a little off after she-well after that lap dance. Like you were drunk.” Bruce said.  
“But I don’t get drunk. Not like I used to. So what? She drugged me?” Steve asked, crossing his arms. “I feel fine now.”  
“Powers?” Wanda asked quietly, moving her hands for effect. “After all that you have seen and what you all are, is that not your first question? Does she have powers?”  
“Good point, Wanda. But something that affects Steve? I’ve only ever seen you do that and unless you managed to be in two places at once and suddenly picked up pole dancing, we have ourselves a problem.” Nat pointed out and bit her lip.  
“And we don’t even know what she took. FRIDAY just handed her all the data like it was candy.” Sam added in. “Tony, how could she even hack FRIDAY like that?”  
“It’s impossible. I made it impossible after Ultron. I honestly couldn’t hack it even if I tried. Vision worked some magic so we wouldn’t almost destroy the world with man killing robots. Again.” He sighed and sat down next to Pepper who rubbed his back comfortingly. “Shit.”  
“Language.” Steve replied automatically. Several of them chuckled at him. “Could she have some kind of tech power too?”  
“Maybe. Look, it’s been a long night for all of us. How about we reconvene in the morning? We have nothing to go on right now. We don’t know who she is, what she took, or where she went. And I for one know I’m going to have a pounding headache if I don’t get some sleep. Besides, I think we lost Peter.” Sam pointed at the mound of blankets on the couch.  
“He’s right.” Pepper said to the room. “We can continue this tomorrow. And you all are welcome to stay the night.”  
“Thanks, Pepper.” Nat smiled and quickly made her way to the stairs, yelling over her shoulder. “I call the first bedroom on the right!”  
“Damn it! That one has the best bed!” Groaned Clint, racing after his best friend.  
Tony glared over at Bruce as he followed the others up. “Don’t you dare break that bed. I am not replacing anymore headboards after the fossils slept over last time.”  
“We didn’t-that wasn’t-” Steve gave up even trying to defend himself. Shaking his head, he picked up the pile that was formally known as Peter to deposit in one of the many rooms. Steve made a note to himself to make sure it was one with its own bathroom.  
Thor made his way to the door. “Alas, my lady awaits my return. I thank you for the kind offer though, Lady Pepper.”  
“You’re welcome, Thor. Tell Jane we said hello.” Pepper waved from the couch.  
Steve made his way up the stairs and called over his shoulder. “Goodnight, Pepper. Tony, try to actually sleep.”  
“She wrecked one of my suits! It’s personal!” Pouted the middle-aged billionaire. Steve chuckled to himself and lugged a snoring Peter to bed. After making sure the entire team was tucked in and being made fun of for doing so, he finally got himself situated.  
Vixen. They had only a name to go on and it could lead anywhere. Or nowhere. The biggest issue at the moment was security. He stared hard at the ceiling. An unknown woman bypassed FRIDAY’s system and had clearly taken something off of the Stark server. Maybe they could talk to Fury tomorrow about sending a SHEILD detail to the house. Rubbing his eyes, Steve tried to do some breathing exercises a psychologist taught him when he first unfroze. Slowly, although too slowly for his liking, he sunk into a deep sleep.

“Asset V. Is the mission complete?”  
“Yes, sir.” Handing over the drive, I placed my hands together behind my back and stood at full attention.  
“Any casualties?”  
“No, sir.”  
“Disappointing. Anyone see you?”  
“Yes, sir.”  
“And no casualties? Very disappointing. The General will hear about this.”  
“Yes, sir.”  
“Arm.”  
Eyes fastened on the wall ahead of me, I held out my left arm. Predictably, my vision started to blur. Two pairs of hands grabbed my arms roughly and a voice growled. “Strap her in and move out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> XD so much excite. I am currently rewatching the whole Marvel movies in order and I'm up to Ant-Man. My goal is to be as canon as I can but with the way things have been going in that universe CLEARLY I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN. For those of you left kudos, I love you and thank you.
> 
> xoxo shelby


	3. Chapter 3

_Bloop. Bloop._  
“If you keep wasting them, I’m not going to get you anymore.” I groaned, nuzzling deeper into my blanket.  
“But I’m bored!” A tiny voice whined. I would’ve rolled my eyes but that would’ve meant opening them. Which wasn’t going to happen. “Besides, you weren’t awake when they brought you back, you need to tell me how it went!”  
_Bloop._  
“Lizzie, I swear to God, I will shove those gummy bears up your ass if you don’t stop.” She might be a tiny 14 year old who is so skinny she could probably snap in half if the wind blew the wrong way but I don’t feel bad for the little monster, she shouldn’t be wasting our stash to wake me up when I had - I peeked at the watch on my wrist - 4 hours of sleep. The watch at least kept me grounded. Being moved around different time zones while unconscious started to affect my routine at ground zero so I was _graciously_ provided with a simple watch which I kept on Greenwich Mean Time.  
“But Vix!”  
I turned head, cracking one eye open. “What?”  
“Did you see him?” She asked, eye bright.  
“Who?” Smirking, I buried myself in my blanket. A squawk of protest reached my ears.  
“Victoria! You _know_ who!”  
Finally, I sat up. I clearly wasn’t going to be getting any more sleep and it was almost time for training. “Oh, Voldemort? Nope, didn’t see him. Maybe next time. I did see a certain Star Spangled soldier though.”  
If squealing so loud could actually burst your ear drums, Liz would need her own super suit. “Is he as handsome as he is on TV?”  
“I mean if you’re into the tall, muscular, golden boy type, I guess.” I shrugged. Another gummy bear bounced off my head. “Hey!”  
“Tell me everything!” Demanded my little sister. Lord knows I was not going to tell her _everything._ But at this point, I could lie pretty convincingly.  
The HYDRA base Lizzie and I were kept at had been operational for over 70 years but the two of us had only lived here for eight. Our mother, a Jersey girl, had moved to Moscow with her two children for a new job. Being an actual adult now, I wonder how my mom could have taken that job after finding out what it entailed.  
Mom never explained to us her “job” but told us that a lovely company called HYRDA had hired her to do something special. A few months later, Mom then informed us that we would be having a new brother or sister join our family. Now, as an 11 year old who did not know her father and only met Liz’s father twice, I didn’t question this. Mom just added to the family and we went along with it. Except things didn’t really go according to plan.  
The official report says that she had “complications during pregnancy” and died from those complications. Most likely due to the fact that my unborn brother had become too much for her body to handle. We lost both of them due to those “complications”. After being with HYDRA this long, I found out exactly what her job had been and swore I would never become a part of it.  
Project In-Vitro.  
Original, right?  
Instead, I signed myself up for Project Siren.  
Once orphaned, we were taken in by HYDRA immediately. The two of us were brought to what is now home. Or at least home base. And that was when we met the General.  
Tucked into the corner of a concrete room, Liz had fallen asleep in my lap as a tall figure stepped in. He offered me a chance to become something more than what I was, a chance to become more than human. Being the little shit that I am, I said yes but only if Liz was kept out of it. The General explained that his research had shown it was unwise to do this procedure on children but I was not a child. I was old enough to become part of a project that would train me to be stronger than any man on Earth.  
“Even Iron Man?” I asked shyly, thinking of the strongest human I knew of.  
“Even Iron Man.” He said with a wolfish grin. That statement has stuck with me to this day.  
Yet I still insisted that Liz was left alone. Humored by my stubbornness, he agreed on the condition that I followed every order of his without question.  
At the time, there was no way to say no. I feared Liz and I starving on the streets more than whatever unknown awaited me. Now, I realized that even if I had said no, there was no possible way that I was going to leave that base without becoming an experiment or in a body bag.  
We were moved into plain white cells made of smooth solid metal and were sparsely furnished eight years ago and still live in the same cells now. Threadbare blankets covered our cots and a window with bars connecting the wall between our cells to let us see each other. The General allowed us to have a semi-normal existence per our deal. Guards, motion sensors, and cameras watched our every move 24 hours a day. As if I would be dumb enough to loose the privileges we had. I had seen the other living conditions on base, hell I had been forced to watch The Winter Soldier being frozen multiple times. Things could be a heck of a lot worse.  
After an unforgettable procedure, my training started. Weapons, fighting, poisons, disarming security systems, computer and phone hacking, learning other languages, you name it and I probably was taught it. And then perfected it. The General had no time for anything less than perfection.  
Years of being a perfect spy/assassin, seducing high powered men and women, and having my body used as a petri dish was not going to be thrown away. At least not until I had a perfect plan.  
And I was far from a perfect plan.  
My success rate of assassining stemmed from the opportunity to use resources outside the base. Over the years, I perfected my killing skills so that I would have spare time to research ways out of HYDRA. So far, I hadn’t had any success in that.  
Rubbing my upper rib cage, I felt the small bump. Thank God I was now dumped into my cell fully clothed. Becoming the base Super Slut had its perks.  
After...receiving my powers, advances from the guards had steadily increased. When the General became aware of the situation (read: dead guards in my cell), a base wide rule was enforced. No one was to touch me without permission. Any breaks in this rule resulted in some unpleasant consequences. Carried out by the General personally.  
A year ago, this rule became even more strict. My guard had been narrowed down to a select few who rotated their shifts. Only the best for their favorite asset.  
Our branch of HYDRA was run differently from others. The General believed that we needed to be more well rounded and therefore allowed us inmates social time. Generally that meant kicking each other’s asses in the training room and eating dinner together like a high school lunch room. By making us more social, he believed we would be more manageable and able to hide in plain sight. The past few years I had visited other facilities and well, I’d really love to never be transferred out. Even if my slight freedom was running out of time.  
I may have opted for Project Siren but Project In-Vitro hadn’t be taken off the table.  
And I knew what was in store for me unlike my mother.

“Can I have your Harry Potter 3 before you go?” Liz pouted. I leaned over the side of my cot and rooted around the stacks of books, pulling out the tattered copy. Sliding it across the floor, it smacked against the wall and a thin arm grabbed it from the ground. “Thanks!”  
A knock on my door reverberated through the room. Moving to the center of the room, I placed my hands behind my back and stood at attention. A minute later, one of my guards enter and held the door for me.  
“Training.” Keith grunted, his stocky build shoved in his uniform uncomfortably. I learned not to talk to my guards over the years. Equipped with these special electro-nightsticks, my guards freely used them when I didn’t shut up. I’m a fast learner. My wit could take a break if it meant I wasn’t a drooling mess on the floor.  
Following Keith, I marched down hallways to the training room behind him. Currently, my only training partner was Dax. He was the only one who could actually make me sweat. Dax joined HYDRA two years ago as a volunteer. He doesn’t talk much except to make fun of me, especially during training, but I can’t imagine what would make a 20 year old sign up for metal bones and concrete skin. Ok, not literally metal bones and concrete skin but it sure seemed like it. His powers made his skin impenetrable and increased his strength so he hit like a freight train.  
“Little Vix, are you ready to become pancake again?” Dax rumbled out in his Russian accent, sweeping his dark blonde hair out of his face.  
“Hey! I beat you at least once last time.” Pulling my arm across my body, I stretched a little. It probably wouldn’t help when I got my ass handed to me but you can’t blame a girl for trying. Without another word, Dax swung towards my face.

“ASSET V!”  
I thumped hard into the mat and groaned. It wasn’t even worth blaming the General for distracting me, I probably would’ve ended up in this same position in five minutes anyway. Ok, two minutes. Pushing myself up, I stood next to Dax at attention.  
“New mission. Brief yourself on the plane.” He handed me a file. “24 hours. No survivors this time.”  
“Yes, sir.” He barely waited for my reply before leaving the training room. “Guess we’ll have to finish this next time, Dax.”  
“Finish what? You need to start thing to finish thing. You not even start.” He had moved on to a punching bag.  
“Hilarious.” Rubbing my shoulder, I headed out to grab my bag of goodies. And that flash drive. I needed to see what was on that like yesterday.

“How’s it going?” Nat asked, setting a steaming cup of coffee next to Steve. He rubbed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, thankful for the break in his research. The team had relocated to the Avengers Tower in New York for the time being and the coffee was a heck of a lot better than at the Avengers Base. It was also nice having everyone under the same roof again.  
“Nothing solid. Whoever she is, she’s popped up in quite a few assassinations.” He said, sighing into his cup.  
“I could’ve told you that just from looking at her.” Nat said, sipping on her own mug.  
Steve raised an eyebrow at her. “Then why didn’t you?”  
“Because you actually enjoy research. Didn’t want to spoil the fun.”  
“I’m not saying thank you. I think that you meant that as an insult.” He smiled at the ex-assassin.  
“Look at you, finally catching onto my jokes.” Nat mockingly slugged him in the shoulder. “But seriously, how many is quite a few?”  
“71.” Nat’s eyes bugged out at the number. “I know. It’s more than you and Bucky combined. The fact that she didn’t kill us is the most surprising thing so far.”  
“Maybe she had orders not to kill us.” She said with a shrug, glancing over Steve’s work.  
“I doubt it. Who doesn’t want to kill all of us? Or at least a few of us.”  
“Point.” Nat stood up and walked to the other side of the desk, examining a paper map. She looked up at Steve wryly. “Really? Paper?”  
“My eyes have almost melted out of my head looking at these screens. I needed something that was not a computer.” Steve scratched his day old beard. Being in the army, he had kept it shaven for so long but only a few months ago had let it grow out. He still couldn’t decide which he preferred: smooth face or beard. For now, he was letting it grow out a bit before shaving it. “Reminds me of the good old days, how could I resist?”  
“From hunting down Nazi mad-scientists to hunting down one deranged child-assassin. You’ve really changed, soldier.” She leaned against the desk, drinking more of her coffee.  
“Well, this child-assassin is starting to look more and more like a threat. It would be so much more helpful if we had FRIDAY on our side but every time I try to find something, I hit a wall. How’s Tony doing?” Steve asked, looking exhausted.  
“You know how he is. Sarcasm, jokes, and no sleep. Same as usual but with a little extra anger thrown in. Poor Pepper has been run ragged between him and work. I’m going to give her a break so she can become a real human again.” Nat pushed herself up and clapped Steve on the shoulder comfortingly. “You should try and get some rest too. She’ll turn up. And when she does, we’ll get her.”  
“I hope you’re right, Nat.”  
The door clicked shut and Steve returned to his work. Despite the coffee, he could feel his eyes slipping closed.

“Captain?”  
Steve lifted his head from the desk and rubbed his neck. “Yes, FRIDAY?”  
“Target has been located. Berlin, Germany. Mr. Stark has already been informed and is loading up now.”  
“Thanks, FRIDAY.” Grabbing a bag by the door, Steve raced to the loading bay. Vixen wasn’t going to escape this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Watched Civil War last night and during that helicopter scene all I could thing of was this: http://noclosertoheaven.tumblr.com/post/174029571880  
> I laugh my ass every time I watch it. Absolute genius.  
> Also I swear there will be some Bucky in this.  
> Not yet though.
> 
> xoxo shelby


	4. Chapter 4

_Thor. Son of Odin. Origin: Asgard. Current location: Earth._  
Hmm. That could be use-  
_Asgard destroyed by Thanos._  
Ok maybe not. But it gave me an idea. I scrolled through all of the data on my drive. Black Widow. Hawkeye. The Hulk. Iron Man. Captain America. The Winter Soldier. The Scarlet Witch. Spider-man. Vision.  
Jeez, there were a lot of them. I knew most of them only from HYDRA files and the news but some of them I’d never heard of. Ant-Man? Who the hell wants to be called Ant-Man?  
Finally, I made it through all the files. And thank the fuck because it was starting to smell in here. I glanced at the dead body and blood pooling around it. I wasn’t a fan of killing but if it meant I could be closer to being free of HYDRA then so be it. And I felt as if I was actually closer. For once. Looking back the screen, I glanced over everything once more and made sure to memorize a few numbers. Just as I was finishing up, a creak in the floorboard reached my ears. Visitors. Great.

Captain America peeked into the upstairs master bedroom, breathing through his mouth. The smell had already permeated the whole floor. A black streak caught his eye.  
“Target-” He grunted as a fist met his gut.  
“Steve? Did you find her?” Nat commed in his ear.  
Cap ducked as a foot launched towards his face. “Yeah. Upstairs.”  
Feet and fists flew fast at him as he stepped into the room, he quickly blocked as many as he could while avoiding the dead body on the floor.  
“Gotta say, I never pegged you the stalker type.” Vixen said, throwing un uppercut towards his face. He grabbed her fist, pulling her closer to him.  
“Looks can be deceiving.” Cap shot back, proud of himself for being able to think straight with her so close. That is until his nose crunched with the force of Vixen’s forehead. “Shit!”  
“Such language!” She mockingly gasped. They both looked over as Black Widow entered the room.  
“Did I miss the party?” She asked, flipping a knife in her hand.  
“Well, this was fun but I feel like I’ve worn out my welcome.” Vixen ran towards the southwest window only to skid to a halt as a gold and red suit waved in the window. “Really?”  
Spinning, she ran straight towards Captain. He readied himself, prepared to knock her on her ass when he felt a hand on her shoulder. Flipping herself over his body, she sprinted towards the window behind him and launched through it. Racing to the broken glass, he looked down the 20 stories to see the black clad figure land on a piece of metal.  
“Tony, it’s all you.” Cap commed over.  
“Aye aye, Captain.” Nat and Steve watched Iron Man fly after Vixen over a dark Berlin.  
“Did she have a hover board?” Asked Nat, sounding slightly jealous.  
“What’s a hover board?” Steve moved towards the dead body, turning him over careful.  
“Add Back to the Future to the List.” She replied, crouching down next to him. She glanced at the slit neck with a cold calculation. “Well, she’s efficient. I’ll give her that.”  
“He’s been dead for hours though, why hang around?”  
Nat looked up to see the computer in the corner still on. Walking over, she clicked around a bit. “Mouse is still warm. Nothing coming up on the web and no files recently open. She must’ve brought her own.”  
They both turned as they heard the Iron Man suit fly up through the window. Pieces of metal slid back to reveal a pissed off Tony Stark.  
“I lost her.” He growled. “She’s slippery. Just completed disappeared around a corner. FRIDAY refused to lock onto her the entire time.”  
“This FRIDAY glitch is really starting to screw us over. Can’t you use one of the other AI’s?” Nat asked, folding her arms.  
“Tried it. FRIDAY has corrupted every single one of them. Now, that is something I really need to figure out how she did.” He replied. Tony walked over to the body. “Anything special?”  
“Besides a dead HYDRA supporter?” Steve handed him the pin that had been attached to the body. “No. Nat, find anything?”  
“Nope.” She stepped over the blood spilled, careful to avoid getting it on her. “Back to square one, boys. I’ll meet you at the quinjet.”

“Asset V, I was informed that you had not completed the mission per my orders.” The General paced back and forth in front of me, arms behind his back. We stood in a white room with no windows and only one door leading out. Computer monitors covered one wall and a few chairs sat around the room. My ass not currently in one of them. I stood with my arms clasped behind my back, dreading how this conversation was going already. My ever present goon squad didn’t even flinch at the General’s tone.  
“Sir?”  
“My direct orders were no survivors. What do you call this?” He pointed to a screen showing Iron Man, Captain America, and Black Widow exiting the building I had been in hours before. Blood drained from my face so fast it’s amazing I didn’t pass out. He couldn’t mean- “Elizabeth has been taken to the lab to begin her procedure and join her place with Project Green.”  
“NO! You can’t-” I screamed, launching myself towards him.  
“I can do whatever I want.” The General growled. My guards stepped in front of him with their nightsticks raised. “Besides, it was time she started earning her keep.”  
“You planned this you bastard!” I spat. I wasn’t stupid, there was no possible way I would’ve been able to kill any of them even with my strength now. My powers could incapacitate them but it would’ve taken a while, I wouldn’t be able to do it and fight off the other two.  
“So dramatic. Your sister is about to become one of our best assets, something she’s wanted for years. You should sup-”  
“SHE IS A CHILD! She has no idea what she wants! You’re about to make a young girl who has never left these walls in the past 8 years a massive creature!”  
“She will be trained.” He said with a dismissive tone.  
“Will be! You don’t even know if this will work! This is by far the stupidest thing you morons have cooked up and you turned me into some sex witch when I was 12!”  
“Guards, I believe Asset V is done here. Escort her to her room.” Dismissing me without another glance. I tried to launch myself past my guards only to end up being shot in my shoulder with a thousand volts of electricity. I dropped to the ground twitching. Panting, I looked up at the General.  
“I will kill you. And no one will find your body.”  
“Good luck with that, Miss Belle. Many have tried, none have succeeded.” The General nodded at my guards. “Take her.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol Ant-Man. I actually liked that more than I thought I would. Just finished Doctor Strange and my brain hurts. Loved everything about it but like damn those buildings moving all over the place gave me a headache. I'm debating putting Dr Strange into this fic. I like him but I'm not sure how I'd work him if I did. Guardians 2 is up next.
> 
> xoxo shelby


	5. Chapter 5

“I thought I was supposed to be the quiet moody one.” Bucky said, sitting down next to Steve at the round, white clothed table. The baby’s breath and rose centerpiece sat in the center of the wine glass and cake filled table. He placed his right arm along the back of Steve’s chair and looked at his best friend and sometimes lover in concern. The two of them being together was still a relatively new experience despite years of having feelings for each other. Although their friends had accepted their relationship immediately, Steve and Bucky were trying to adapt to a world where their love was accepted. Between being unfrozen, finding each other again, working through their own shit plus the Avengers shit, neither of them had any time to truly relax and talk about it. For the moment, they were comfortable being together and not trying to do more than enjoy the fact that they were both alive and well, together.  
“I’m not being quiet and moody.” Steve replied half-heartedly. He knew Bucky was right but didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.  
“This is Nat and Bruce’s wedding, you should at least be smiling.” He said, rubbing his thumb along Steve’s shoulder unconsciously.  
The wedding was small. Very small, much to Tony’s chagrin. Mostly the Avengers, their significant others, and a few former SHIELD agents. The reception was being held in the Tower. The ceremony had been too. And although Tony had tried to convince the couple to hold their wedding on a beach, the two lovebirds insisted on having it here. Not only was it the safest place they knew but it was where they had spent most of their time together. Bucky watched as Bruce twirled Nat around the dance floor, Nat’s face lit up with true happiness. She looked beautiful in her white gown, a lace covered dress that was slim on her upper body and then trailed out behind her. He couldn’t think of two people who deserved that kind of happiness more than Nat and Bruce.  
“Come dance with me.” Bucky said with a slightly smirk.  
“Buck, I haven’t danced in years.”  
“Which is why I’ll lead.” He forcefully pulled Steve to his feet and dragged him to the dance floor with the other guests. Pulling the distracted man closer, Bucky placed his right hand on Steve’s hip while Steve rested his on Bucky’s shoulder. Holding their other hands together, Bucky stepped forward and began to lead them across the wooden floor. He quickly wrapped his arm more firmly around Steve’s waist and dipped him dramatically. Steve’s laughter rang out loudly and Bucky couldn’t help but smile widely. He pulled the soldier back up and closer to his own body.  
“I missed you.” Steve sighed, resting his forehead against Bucky’s.  
“Missed you too, Stevie.” He said softly. “But I’m glad I went, Wanda needed the backup.”  
“Hmm, I guess but I could’ve gone too.” Steve mused.  
“It only needed the two of us.” Bucky said then decided to change the subject, trying to avoid repeating an old argument. It wasn’t always productive having the both of them on a mission together. They were too distracted by keeping each other safe, they needed to learn to do more things separately. “You know what else I miss though? That smile of yours. This Vixen thing has really messed with you.”  
“There’s just something about her-”  
“Should I be worried? Are you leaving me for a child? Just so you know, that is illegal. Especially when you’re 100 years old.” Steve rolled his eyes at Bucky’s comment.  
“Not you too.” He said.  
“Hey, to us, everyone’s a kid.”  
“She’s not a kid. Well, at least I’m pretty sure she’s not a kid. And after waiting 70 years for you, I don’t think I’ll just give up on you for someone I just met.”  
“Damn. I really wanted to knock her out for stealing my man.” Bucky said disappointingly. Steve chuckled. “There’s that smile.”  
“You’re ridiculous.”  
“Ridiculously handsome. I know. It’s a gift.” He said with a shrug.  
The music changed from a slow song to a more upbeat song a moment later. The others who had been mingling came onto the dance floor either in excitement or reluctantly pulled over. Steve and Bucky were caught in the middle of the dance floor, pressed closed to each other and their friends.  
The night wore on, the people around them getting drunker and the music getting louder. At some point, Clint had taken an empty beer bottle and spun it in middle of the group on the dance floor. When the tip of the bottle pointed at someone, they had to go to the middle and dance separately. Peter Parker ended up break dance and spinning around on his head, Sam did some dance called the “robot” according to Wanda, and the dances continued to get sillier.  
Laughter rang throughout the beautiful room constantly all night. When the DJ finally wrapped everything up, many of their friends booed. Nat and Bruce barely even noticed, sitting at their couples table alone and wrapped up in each other. Steve, being the responsible adult that he is, began to send everyone to bed and directed the staff how to clean up. Bucky watched in amusement as Tony draped his arm around Steve’s shoulders and talked his ear off. Their eyes met and Steve rolled his eyes as Pepper dragged Tony off. The other wandered off to their apartments.  
Bucky stepped up behind Steve, wrapping an arm around his waist. “I think they’ve got it.”  
“I just want to make sure everything is cleaned up and-”  
“And they can put tablecloths away on their own. Everyone is in bed. Now, let’s go to bed ourselves.” The two of them had been the only sober ones most of the night since nothing on Earth could stay in their system long enough and none of them had figured out how to replicate Asgardian alcohol. Bucky threaded his metal hand through Steve’s and pulled him to the elevator. He was planning on sleeping all day tomorrow and he would make sure Steve stayed in bed too, even if he had to tie him there.

4 days. 4 days since they injected my baby sister with gamma poison created from Bruce Banner’s blood. 4 days of quietly sitting alone in my room, listening to the guards. They might not talk to me but they talked to each other constantly. After all my enhancements and training, my hearing became sharper, I could hear a pin drop down the hall. But only if I concentrated. And I’d been listening to the guards for days. The project was not going well.My sister had broken through multiple rooms and any time they tried to drug her, it only made her angrier.  
I told him it was a bad idea.  
But does anyone listen me?  
Of course not.  
_Whoosh._ My door opened up to reveal the General. He beckoned me to follow without a word.  
Finally.

 _ **CRASH**_  
The chair shattered against the wall to my left. I raised an eyebrow at the Hyde version of my sister. Muscle bulged from every limb. Her once ghostly pale skin was now a Wicked Witch of the West green. She huffed as she met my eyes.  
These idiots had no idea what they’ve done.  
“Hey, Lizzie.”  
She-Hulk roared back at me.  
“What’s the problem?” I asked, walking closer to her. She made no move to hurt me but I kept my hands open and to the side anyway. I didn’t want to give her any reason to not trust me.  
Liz whimpered and glanced at the mirrored wall on the side of the room. Ah. I got a treatment that made me super pretty and desirable and they made her into a hulking green monster. Add hormones onto that and I would probably be breaking walls too. It wasn’t fair to Lizzie. She spent years watching me train and knew everything that was planned for me. All she wanted was to be like me. And this is what they did to her.  
I never wanted to be like this. After I was changed, I hated it even more. I tried to be as positive about it as possible for Lizzie’s sake but I truly hated how people looked at me. It was never me they looked at, it was what had been done to me. The pheromones made them look at me as if I was everything they wanted in life. But how could I explain how messed up I felt to my kid sister? Maybe I should’ve been more honest but we can’t go back and change that now.  
“May I?” I asked, gesturing closer to her. She nodded and I walked over to her. Gently, I laid a hand on her forearm and whistled. “Wish I had these muscles. I could bench press a train.”  
She frowned more.  
“Lizzie, you’re still beautiful. Just in a different way.” I whispered soothingly. She rolled her eyes at me. “Don’t give me that sass. And if you want to go back to being you’re other beautiful self then you need to calm the fuck down.”  
Haltingly, she responded in a voice much deeper than what I was used to. “H-hard.”  
“Of course it is, dummy. I’ll help you out though.” I wrapped my hands around hers and held them. “Breathe in.”  
I waited a moment and nothing happened. “You have to actually breathe in, duh.”  
She grunted and grudgingly took a deep breathe.  
“Good. Now, out.”  
Air whooshed past my face. Damn, she needed to also brush her teeth. We breathed in and out together for a while. I concentrated on her pulse, feeling it very slowly start to calm down.  
As her anger faded and her body began to relax, tears streamed down her face. Slowly, she reverted back to her tiny human self. A sob ripped out of her and I pulled her close, wrapping my entire body around her. Petting her head, she wept on my chest, her full body wracking sobs breaking my heart.  
“Shhh, it’s ok, Lizzie. Everything’s ok now. You’re safe. Shh. I promise, everything is going to be ok.”  
And I intended to keep that promise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just got back from a wedding and I am whooped. I had planned on getting this out before I had left for the wedding but that clearly didn't happen.  
> Also currently avoiding Tumblr/all social media bc I wish I was at Comic Con. Very jealous of everyone there. If you happen to see any of the Avengers or Supernatural cast, please say hello for me and that I love their stupidly good looking faces. And have lots of fun for me if you're there.  
> Please enjoy the floof of this chapter, I had fun writing it. And ugh I can't wait to write/post the next few.
> 
> xoxo shelby


	6. Chapter 6

The door to my cell clinked open. I sat up from my spot under the window that connected to Liz’s room. She was currently sleeping. After the whole debacle the other day, she was kept on medication to help her relax and stay calm. I didn’t approve of this method but clearly, I didn’t get much say in the matter. One of my guards, Melissa, stood in the door. “The General has a mission for you.”  
I nodded and quietly followed her out of the cell. I glanced back, Liz slept soundly in her bed, her coffee colored hair tangled over the pillow. I hated to leave her but if it meant I got out of here for a little then maybe I could get a little closer to escaping.  
We moved quickly down the halls and entered the General’s office. Melissa stepped back while I stood at attention in front of his desk. He slowly spun in his chair and thrust a folder at me.  
“London. MP Jones. 24 hours.”  
God bless this man for his OCD tendencies. He didn’t care if I got it done in an hour but there would be hell to pay if I took more than 24 hours. I never needed that long but for some reason, this assbutt just let me have all the time in the world to kill people for him. I nodded and followed Melissa out towards the jet, reading about my target on the way there. Hmm, if I could get this done in 6 hours tops then I’d have just enough time to make a pit stop before any suspicions could be raised. Perfect.

Jane stared out at the downpour and sighed. She loved working in England but the rain was starting to get old fast. It had been a wet week and the forecast showed it wasn’t going to let up anytime soon. She stood at the top of the stairs debating whether to make a dash for her car or wait for the rain to stop.  
“Jane Foster?” A woman in black pants and a black raincoat appeared next to the scientist, an umbrella covering her. “Could we talk?”  
“Um.”  
“My name is Vixen.” She tilted her head and held out her hand. Jane grasped it and felt herself relax. “I had some questions about your work.”

They walked around the city, Jane talking about...well, everything. The doctor rambled on about Foster Theory, the Nine Realms, Convergence, astronomy, and portals. The woman, Vixen, encouraged her and asked a few questions to keep her on track. Jane couldn’t remember talking so much in her life, even though she gave lectures every week. The two of them huddled under Vixen’s umbrella and continued to walk through the rain.  
“Would you be able to find another portal?”  
“Most likely not. The first one was an accident and disappeared before we truly studied it.” She looked at the woman who was frowning. This gave Jane an unsettled feeling but she couldn’t figure out why. “You seem disappointed.”  
“Just scratching out possibilities. Thank you for walking with me.” They had reached Jane’s car without her even realizing that they were walking towards it. Jane said her goodbye and then looked both ways before crossing the street to her car.  
“And Ms. Foster?” The astronomer stopped with her door open and turned back to the woman who smirked at her. “Would you say hello to the Avengers for me?”

“What did you two talk about?” Tony asked for the hundredth time.  
Jane sat in the Avengers Tower with a group of them scattered through the room. With Nat and Bruce away, Peter at school, Clint home with his wife, and Pepper running Stark Industries, the rest of them had assembled in the community lounge by the landing bay. Thor stood behind Jane as she sat on one of the couches, looking exhausted. “I told you, she asked about my work. I can’t remember the details like exactly what she asked just that she wanted to know about the portals.”  
“Like the one you went through?” Thor asked.  
“Yes. She wanted to know about portals. We talked and I told her about my research. She...I think she asked if I could find another one. It’s all pretty foggy.” Jane said, rubbing her head. Steve glanced at Wanda, he wanted to ask if she was thinking the same thing as him but didn’t want to worry Jane. Or Thor, for that matter. The thunder god was looking a little on edge. As soon as Jane had called to say that Vixen had been in contact with her, Tony flew her to the Tower as fast as he could. He had debated going over to look for Vixen himself but after discussing it with Steve, Pepper, and the others, they determined that Vixen would be long gone.  
“Well we’re glad you’re alright, Jane.” Steve said.  
“Why would I not be alright? Who is she?” Jane asked, looking at all of them. None of them would meet her gaze. Thor had initially been with them for their first encounter with Vixen but they hadn’t had a chance for a team meeting. And with Nat and Bruce on their honeymoon, Tony and Steve had decided to wait until they returned to discuss everything. It looked like that wasn’t going to happen.  
“We don’t know.” Tony said, trying to skirt around the fact that Jane had been talking to an assassin. “We’re trying to find out as much as we can about her.”  
It was the truth. They hadn’t found much and FRIDAY was still not cooperating. It seemed that whatever Vixen did to FRIDAY, she did to the other AI’s Tony had lying around. He had tried to switch them but hadn’t been about to get any information. He finally went back to FRIDAY and gave up on trying to fix it. In the mean time, it seems that Vixen had made another kill before seeing Jane while in London. They had gone over the reports before she had arrived.  
“What could she possibly want with a portal though?” Sam asked from his perch on the couch arm. Wanda sat next to him with Vision on her other side, both of them looking perplexed. Bucky stood silently at the window, looking out over the city.  
Steve ran a hand over his chin, joining Bucky at the window and sighed. “I have no idea. And that’s what worries me.”

 _Every now and then I get a little bit restless_  
And I dream of something wild  
(Turn around)  
Every now and then I get a little bit helpless  
And I'm lying like a child in your arms  
(Turn around)  
Every now and then I get a little bit angry  
And I know I've got to get out and cry  
(Turn around)  
Every now and then I get a little bit terrified  
But then I see the look in your eyes  
_**RING**_  
_(Turn around, bright eyes!)Every now and then I fall apart(Turn around, bright eyes!)Every now and then I fall apart_  
_**RING**_  
Peter Quil paused the music and looked around his dashboard.  
__**RING**  
“What the hell?” He muttered, picking up the cell phone that was moving around. An unknown number blinked up at him. “Hello?”  
“Is this Peter Quil?” A woman asked.  
“Yeah. Who wants to know?” He shot back.  
“My name’s Vixen.” The woman paused for a moment and he could almost hear her smile through the phone. “I got your number from Tony Stark.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need to stop finding these things on Tumblr
> 
>  
> 
> <http://captain-snark.tumblr.com/post/176376377558/hello-shellhead-time-to-take-over-midgard>  
> 
> 
> I can't breathe.
> 
> xoxo  
> shelby


	7. Chapter 7

“Captain, Mr. Stark would like to see you and Sergeant Barnes in the community meeting area.” FRIDAY said. The two men looked at each other questioningly. Bucky shrugged. They were just about to make dinner so it wasn't as if they were that busy at the moment.  
“Maybe it has to do with Vixen.” Steve said, making his way towards the elevator. Bucky resisted rolling his eyes while following the blonde man. He kind of hoped it was too. After all this talk of the young woman, Bucky had an urge to just drop kick her. He was also slightly interested in seeing what made the others so obsessed with her. FRIDAY brought them both to Tony’s floor. Somehow during the repurchase and then remodel of the Tower, Tony had the common area placed on his personal floor. As much as the man complained about all of them, he seemed to want to keep them as close as he could. The elevator dinged and the soldiers stepped out in sync, moving towards the dark haired man standing at the long table across the room.  
“Someone has been bragging about bringing a very good looking woman to the benefit tonight. And it sounds like our girl.” Tony informed them, pulling up a file of a wealthy, ugly looking man on the table/screen. “Oscar Garner. Got his money from striking oil under his land. And it looks like he’s got plenty of money to spare.”  
“And why would we care?” Bucky grunted, crossing his arms over his dark blue henley.  
“Because if he has all that money then why not funnel it into HYDRA? Send a good looking girl to butter him up, make him look good, and boom a new investor.” He tapped his chin thoughtfully. “It’ll probably work too.”  
“Seems a little lowball for HYDRA.” Bucky said as he stepped up to look into the file. He felt bad that the girl had to put up with this man even for a night. Just looking at his photos made Buck’s skin crawl. “And you want to go and get her?”  
“Too many people. And she seems smart enough not to go somewhere alone with any of us. No, I want to just ask her some questions. Well, I want _Cap_ to ask her some questions.”  
Both of them turned to look at the smaller man. Steve spoke first. “What now?”  
“Pepper and I were already going. It _is_ a Stark benefit. I have to at least show my face for these things. As much as I’d like to spin her around the dance floor, I am engaged and that may look suspicious. That brings us to Sir Spangles. Pep and I will distract Garner while you go in for the kill. So to speak.” Tony shrugged. “I’d invite you too, Sergeant but I can’t have you punching her when she hits on your man.”  
Bucky’s eyes were actually going to roll out of his head. He knew the real reason was because of the crowd and possible HYDRA supporters. He couldn’t risk being a volatile situation. Tony held up his hands. “Sam’s going as Steve’s date so you can be rest assured that no one will defile him.”  
They both chose to ignore that comment. Steve let out a huge sigh. “When do we leave?”

Steve and Sam followed Pepper and Tony up the stairs, light flashing at them in rapid fire. Pepper walked off to talk with the press for a moment as Tony came to join him on the landing about halfway up the stone staircase.  
“See them yet?” He muttered.  
Sam shook his head. Looking around at all the beautiful gowns, dark tuxedos, and bright smiles, Steve caught a glimpse of red at the top of the stairs. He turned and felt his stomach drop. Cardinal red satin glowed against pale skin, the dress dipped in a V on Vixen’s chest with the top hugging her slight curves. He continued to look down, seeing a leg peek out from a slit that ran from her upper thigh to the hem. God help him, this was going to be a long night.

My smile was going to fall off of my face. These rich men and their entitlement was so boring. I had been dancing the entire night, on and off with Garner only to be handed off to some frat boy that threw away Daddy’s money like it was trash or middle-aged men with portly bodies and bad breath when Garner saw someone he just _had_ to talk to. A new partner stepped up before I could catch my breath, one strong hand going to my waist and the other grasped my right hand. Baby blues met mine.  
“Captain Rogers, how...surprising to see you here.” I said, trying not to show any emotion. I could feel Garner watching me like a hawk. We moved gracefully across the floor, every cell in me on fire. It took every ounce of willpower to not melt into a puddle of goo. This was a bad idea. Abort. Abort. Abort.  
“Mr. Stark invited me.” His eyes never left mine, sending a shiver down my spine. Dear lord, I was in trouble. “It seems your...date was bragging about you. We thought it would be a good idea to see if there were any more dead bodies to clean up.”  
“I think the word you were looking for was escort, not date.” He opened his mouth, a blush creeping up on his pale skin, but I cut him off. “I might not be a hundred years old but I’m not a child. And you’ll be happy to know that he’ll survive the night. My owner would rather having a willing investor than a dead one.”  
“Good. That’s-wait, did you say owner?” I can feel his hand tighten on my waist. Interesting.  
“I would say boss but I don’t get paid so yes, owner would be the most accurate. I mean even soldiers get paid.” The clench of his jaw was hot. I could tell how angry that sentence made him and I loved it. There was something insanely wrong about this. I did not know this guy form Adam but the thought of him being protective of me was the biggest turn-on. Glancing over his shoulder, I saw Tony Stark engaging Garner in a conversation with Pepper Potts by his side. So this was a team effort. “Are you here to arrest me?”  
“I’m not a police officer, ma’am. I would like to ask you a few questions though.” He grasped my hand, pushing me away from his body. I took the cue, stepping away then felt him pull me back in. Never letting my eyes leave his, I stepped back and brought my leg up, wrapping it around his left one. I raised my eyebrow challengingly.  
“Ask away, Captain.”

“Get it, Cap.” He heard Sam whisper in his ear. Damn him. Sam was across the room, keeping an eye out for any trouble. Steve gently unwrapped Vixen’s leg from his. He continued to move them about the dance floor but more chastely than what Vixen was clearly going for.  
“How old are you?” He asked, hearing Sam groan. “We have a bet going on.”  
“Really?” She smirked. “And what did you bet, Captain Rogers?”  
“Call me Captain.” He replied. Steve loved the way she said it, he couldn’t explain it. He wished she would call him Steve but that felt too personal at the moment. “Just Captain. And I’ll tell you as soon as you tell me.”  
“Are you always this bossy?” She asked. He felt himself relax slightly, just a bit, as her thumb rubbed over the back of his hand. Without waiting for a reply, she spoke again. “Nineteen...Captain.”  
He grinned as he heard another groan from Sam. Her eyes widened and she grinned back. “I take it that you won.”  
“I did.” He watched her eyes flick behind him. Remembering that he was on a time limit, he spun her around once more and brought her back. “Now, who are you?”  
“Vixen. Come on, Cap, I expected harder questions than this.”  
He was caught between rolling his eyes at her answer and grinning like an idiot at her calling him Cap. Settling for a huff, he tried again. “What did you take from Stark’s files?”  
“A little of this and that.” She waved her left hand around a little. “Nothing that I’m allowed to really talk about. I do like keeping my head attached to my body and my brain not melting out of my ears.”  
“Why can’t we research you? What did you do to Stark’s AI?” He knew he was running out of time and already aching at the thought of letting her go.  
“Friday? Oh, I just asked her not to share anything about me.”  
“You-you asked her?”  
“Yes.” Vixen drawled out the word like she was speaking to a child. “She was very accommodating. Cap, I really am disappointed in your questions. Here I thought you’d be a little creative and ask me what my favorite kink is or what color my underwear is.”  
Steve could _feel_ his face burning. The roar of Sam’s laughter almost had Steve ripping the com out of his ear. Opening his mouth, he tried to form a response but nothing came out.  
“A man in uniform and none. By the way.” She grinned as he processed that. “I think we’ve run out of time, Captain.”  
She brought them to a stop, still staring up at him and slowly letting her hand run down his arm. As she started to pull away, he tightened his hold on her. “One more thing. What do you want?”  
“It doesn’t matter what I want. It’s never mattered what I wanted. I thought that was obvious. Thanks for the dance, Captain.” She tilted her head with a small smile. Carefully, she stepped out of his hold and made her way towards the man she came with. He watched as she wrapped an arm through Garner’s, smiling up at him as if he was the last man on Earth. He laughed at something she said and started walking her through the crowd. She glanced back over her shoulder, meeting his eyes with a smirk.

Pulling the hem of my gown up, I sat myself in the limo and waited for Garner to join me. It had been an interesting night. Garner was drunk off his ass and thankfully, my job ended as soon as we dropped him off. A little bit of my mojo and I would be golden. Many of the clients HYDRA sent me to sweet talk expected much more than I wanted to give. The General was very strict that I stay untouched. Too much money had been invested in me for some big-wig with money to sully me and ruin one of their projects. Personally, I was just happy I didn’t have to fake sex with these dirty old men and creepy rich women. Staring out the window, I smiled as I recalled my dance with the dear old Captain. Liz was going to have a fit when I told her about this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally watched Spider-Man: Homecoming. Tom Holland is by far the best Spiderman. And him and Tony, UGH they're so cute.
> 
> xoxo  
> shelby


	8. Chapter 8

It had been about a month since Liz was turned into She-Hulk. We have had about 12 days without an accident and to be honest, the last episode was not her fault whatsoever. See, when they decided to make a 14 year old _girl_ into a big green monster, they didn’t factor in that she would be even _more_ of a monster once a month. Men are idiots. I’m hoping that they’ll remember that for the next one. Because there’s always a next one.  
“Asset V?” I turned my attention back towards the General. “Still with us?”  
“Yes, sir.”  
“The vial will need to be kept cool en route. The retrieval team will be equipped to handle it. You’ll be reporting to Greene. Will anything else be needed for a successful mission?”  
_Like someone other than Greene?_ That asswipe made it a point to make disgusting comments about me every time he came on a mission. Last time, his narrative had involved me handcuffed and no consent. But I had specific orders not to bash his face in and he had specific orders not to touch me. Especially when I was retrieved. Thank the fucking Lord. The one time he had tried something while I was unconscious, the General had bashed his kneecap in. He still walked with a limp and blamed me for it. Like it was _my_ fault that he couldn’t keep his hands to himself.  
“My board, sir.”  
“For what?” He asked gruffly.  
“Second escape route, sir. If needed, I can go out one of the windows and use my board. Sir.”  
He nodded, clearly pleased that I had thought ahead. “Very well. Get it on your way out. You have 24 hours. Now, go.”

Stepping into the elevator, I smiled slightly as the doors clicked shut. That had been a piece of cake. After hiding my board behind a dumpster a block away, I had staked the outside of the Tower for about an hour, waiting for lunch to hit. Dozens of Stark Industry employees flooded out towards nearby restaurants and food trucks. Carefully watching, I picked out a young woman with a build similar to mine but with lighter brown hair. Close enough. I had managed to slip in right behind her in line for a barbecue food truck. Taking her badge had been simple: a compliment about her shoes, introduction with a fake name, handshake, a little use of my power, and I walked away with her ID badge in under 2 minutes. Entry into the building had been a little touch and go. I had wandered in, scanned my stolen card, and walked through the metal detectors. Once through, I assumed I was golden but I was intercepted by Happy Hogan. Of all times for him to be paying attention. A little more use of my power and I slipped past a dopey Happy into the elevator.  
“Good afternoon, Miss Vixen.”  
“Hey, Friday. How are you?”  
“Doing well. Thank you, miss.” The Irish voice reported.  
“Good to hear.” I leaned against the mirrored wall. “Any chance you know where the Peanut Gang is at the moment?”  
“The Avengers are currently assembled in the community lounge for their monthly meeting. Would you like to join them?”  
I bit my lip, trying not to laugh. Friday had a bit of sass in that wiring. “I’ll have to pass. I’d actually prefer that they didn’t know if I was visiting. I’m just stopping by to pick up a few things. Could you take me to the lab, Friday?”  
“Which lab, Miss Vixen? Research and Development or Dr. Banner’s lab?”  
“Let’s go with Dr. B’s. I feel like he’ll have what I’m looking for.”

“YOU ARE A GOD DAMN CHEAT, ROGERS!” Tony roared. Steve was currently rolling on the floor laughing like a moron with a spoon in his hand while Bucky rolled his eyes at the two of them. Game day had taken a turn.  
“Don’t be a sore loser, Stark.” Clint said with a grin. The group was engaged in a round of Spoons and which had dwindled down to Tony and Steve while the rest watched the violence unfold. Once a month, Tony had deemed that they have a meeting day which usually turned into game day then movie and pizza night. Not that he was going to admit it but Bucky enjoyed these meetings. Clint would come up for an update on the team and even Pepper would pop in in between meetings to play a round or two of whatever game was on.  
Currently, their actual meetings hadn’t been very long. With no new information about Vixen and the world actually stable at the moment, they had all been doing small missions like cleaning up old HYDRA bases, research projects, or helping underprivileged countries. Personally, he was bored out of his mind with nothing to fight. It had been a weird experience just hanging out with Steve in their apartment lately. Pleasant but strange. They had become very domesticated in a short amount of time. Up early for a run, an hour or so in the gym, breakfast together, reading or a project (Bucky was currently learning how to knit. It was therapeutic and fuck Steve for calling him an old woman), lunch together or with their friends, research or more reading, dinner, then bed. Of course, they had to come to family dinner on Sundays too. According to Tony, _Pepper_ insisted on them eating together. Right because _Pepper_ really wanted to listen to them all bitch about Steve hogging the damn rolls or Sam sticking his fingers in the apple pie to eat all the crumbles on top. Despite how weird it all felt, it felt right. He finally began to feel like he was settling in and could be happy here with these idiots.  
“I’m heading down to check on the pie real quick, be back in a minute.” Bucky said quietly in Steve’s ear, leaning down from his perch on the couch. He turned from his spot on the floor by the coffee table to face Bucky and pecked a kiss to his cheek.  
“Ok but hurry back, I think we’re going to play Cards Against Humanity next. You love that one.”  
“Because I kick all of your asses at it. I’ll only be a few minutes. Wait for me.” With a chuckle, Buck stood and made his way to their apartment a few floors down.

Stepping out into the dim lab was a little unnerving. Beakers and all kinds of science equipment laid around, most of it I only recognized from walking through one of HYDRA’s labs. Quickly, I made my way over to a large refrigerator with a glass door. Looking in, I could see tons of vials all labeled and organized.  
_S. Rogers - blood samples_  
There we go. I popped open the fridge and carefully grabbed one of the red filled vials, slipping it into the insulated chest pocket on my jacket. As I went to close the door, a label caught my eye.  
_Gamma antidote - trial #324_  
Hmmm. I took out the only vial in the tray and studied the light blue liquid for a moment. This could be the answer I was looking for. Slipping it into my other chest pocket of my leather jacket, I wandered over to the glass wall computer screen.  
“Dr. Banner, let’s see what you’ve been working on.”

 _ **BING**_  
Tony looked down at his StarkPhone screen and frowned. He opened an app to show the floor of the building and the heat signatures on those floors. A red blink showed one on a floor that was most _definitely_ closed at the moment. That couldn’t be right. FRIDAY would’ve-  
“SHIT.” He exclaimed, making Peter jump next to him on the couch. “MOTHERFUCKER! FRIDAY!”  
“Yes, Boss?”  
The others looked at him in confusion and/or like he lost his damn mind. He hadn’t yet but he was about to. “Who the hell is in Banner’s lab?”  
Silence met his question. The rest of the team was on their feet, Steve already heading towards the elevator door.  
“Is it Vixen? FRIDAY, you answer me or I swear-”  
“My apologizes, Boss. Miss Vixen requested that you not be alerted to her presence. She said she needed a few things.”  
“Lock down the entire god damn building, FRIDAY.”  
“Request denied.”  
Tony huffed angrily through his nose. Deep breaths. He would not rip apart his AI. He _wouldn’t_. Even if he found a way to. Nat followed Steve towards the elevator with Clint and Sam. Wanda, Vision, and Peter stayed standing but made no move towards the already crowded looking elevator. Pressing a button on his watch, he assembled his suit and joined the gang on the elevator. He was going to tear this Vixen a new one.

“Excuse me, Miss Vixen? The Avengers have been alerted to your presence.” FRIDAY chimed above me. Well, fuck me sideways. That was fast.  
“ETA?”  
“4.52 minutes.”  
I hummed while I thought. I had what I needed but how to get out of here? This was literally the only floor without windows. Staircase it is.  
“Any chance you can stall them a minute or two?” I asked, stepping into the bright white stairwell and started going up.  
“Of course, Miss.”  
“Thanks, Friday. You’re the best.”

The elevator rocked to a stop a few floors above Dr. Banner’s lab. Steve grabbed a wall and steadied himself. “FRIDAY? What was that?”  
“Miss Vixen requested that you are stalled one or two minutes.”  
“How this child managed to hack you is going to give me nightmares.” Tony sighed.  
“She’s nineteen.” Steve said automatically. Tony gave him a scathing look.  
“Boys. Now is not the time.” Nat scolded. Reaching down, she pulled the rug up to reveal the emergency trapdoor on the floor. Steve helped her open it.  
“I’ll head down and try to-”  
“Wait. She’s heading up.” Tony said with a hand held out. They looked at him in confusion.  
“Heading up?” Clint asked, exchanging a look with Sam.  
“Staircase. She’s-” Tony stopped for a breath then looked at Steve. “She just stopped at your apartment, Captain.”

“Bucky?” He looked up to see a vaguely familiar young woman standing at the emergency staircase door. Suddenly, his vision was filled with dark brown hair and a body was clinging to him. He looked down as the brunette unwrapped herself from him and met his eyes. “I thought-they said-how are you alive?”  
“Who are you?” He asked. A ruckus made both of them turn to see some of the Avengers crowding around the elevator doors. Nat immediately shot off two bullets in her direction. Unconsciously, Bucky moved.  
_**Ping. Ping.**_  
The woman looked from Bucky’s arm to his face with wide brown eyes. Shaking his head, Bucky unwrapped his arm from her waist and took a step back. He didn’t understand what he had just done. Clearly, she had done something wrong but Bucky had an urge to protect her. He just couldn’t figure out why. The brunette leaned forward and kissed his cheek lightly.  
“Thanks.” She whispered with a small smile. Backing up, she took something out of her pocket and threw it at the windows across the room. Glass shattered outwards and before he or the others could get close enough to stop her, she swan dived out of the window. 38 stories above the ground.

“Ennff.” I groaned, landing on my hover board with my feet planted firmly on the gripped surface. Looking up, I saw a few heads poke out of the broken glass. Then Iron Man fly out. God damn it.  
Bending my knees, I headed out. No way was I letting my own _father_ catch me. Ew. I still couldn’t believe that was true. I mean CLEARLY the man was insane just flinging himself out of windows in that piece of junk-  
Nevermind.  
Rounding a building, I nose-dived down towards an out of the way alley. Seeing a large enough vent, I hovered for a moment before climbing inside. Not the most convenient of hiding spots but it beats dunking myself in the Hudson to hide from any thermal scans. Settling in, I laid my board down and began to fiddling with the wiring.  
An hour later, I hopped out of the vent and pressed a button on my board. My hoverboard folded itself up into a backpack sized square. What I wouldn’t give to have the chance to make the board able to fold up even smaller. But beggars can’t be choosers. Squatting down, I shoved it into my thin and very foldable camping-like backpack that I had pulled from the small drawer on the side of the board. Always need pockets/drawers. Even on my board. I heaved the bag on my shoulders and made my way to the rendezvous spot. No fun side trips today. If I were the Avengers, I would have every single camera in the area being scanned. I pulled the hood of my jacket up, slipping onto the crowded streets.  
Three hours, two tacos, and one very long walk later, I arrived at the sketchy ass warehouse. I walked in to see a few men and women in black packing up a few trucks.  
Pulling the small vial out of my jacket pocket, I handed it to one of the men who immediately placed it safely in a chilled briefcase and made my way towards one of the trucks. Greene leered behind me as I walked.  
“Only took you 7 hours, I know a good way we can spend the other 17 hours.” He licked his lips, looking you up and down. A shiver of disgust rolled through me. I would rather have my eyeballs scooped out with a spoon than _ever_ spend time alone with that man. I pulled myself up into the truck in silence. Greene wandered off a moment later, realizing that I wasn’t going to respond. After settling in, one of the men milling about came over to my seat with a needle.  
“Arm.” He demanded. I held my arm out to him, watching as he slipped the sharp point under my skin, making a new hole next to the others that had started to heal and the old ones that had scarred long ago. Quickly, I felt the drug take over and closed my eyes with a sigh. I might have just been shot up with an addictive drug but at least I wouldn’t have to listen to Greene on the way back to base if I wasn’t conscious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOO HOO another chapter. Next one will be good but ugh I can't wait for what's coming after that. Still debating if the fun stuff will be in one chapter or two.
> 
> xoxo  
> shelby


	9. Chapter 9

“You are _sure_ you’d be ok with doing it one more time?” I whispered again, worry eating at me.  
“Will we really get out?” Liz met my eyes, hope shining in them.  
“Yes. I have a place for you to go.”  
“ _Us_ to go.” She argued back, narrowing her eyes at me from her crouch on the other side of our window.  
“Just you for right now. I have to do a few things first.” I sighed. Rubbing my forehead, I looked back at her. “I promise, we’ll be together as soon as I finish this.”  
She looked down for a moment. “Would you tell me if I kill anyone?”  
“No. Besides, I don’t think you can count these shit bags as human.”  
She snorted. “True.”  
“Liz-”  
“I’m sure.”  
“If anything goes wrong, you run.”  
“Vix-”  
“Lizzie, promise me.” I pleaded quietly. I couldn’t do this if she wasn’t going to get out. I could live with them keeping me but not her.  
“Fine. I promise.” She whispered and rolled her eyes a little. Brat. “It’s going to work though.”  
It better. This was literally our only shot. I patted my chest again just to make sure the vial was still there. Dr. Banner’s notes showed that this was most likely going to fix Liz. All I had to do was inject her with it. If it didn’t work-  
“I know. I just need to make sure you get out.”  
“You’re so dramatic.” She huffed.  
“And you’re a pain in my ass.” I ran a hand through my hair when a knock interrupted us. Training time. I stood, taking off my jacket and laid it carefully on the bed. Clad in my black jeans, black tank, and boots, I went to my door and waited a moment for it to be opened.  
“Move.” Keith grunted.  
“Good morning to you too, sunshine.” I muttered, stepping ahead of him. A crackle respond to my sass and I bit my lip, waiting for the impact. Keith turned off his nightstick and continued to walk behind me. We moved quickly through the white, bland hallways to the training room. The room was more packed than usual, other experiments were training with their guards lounging across the room. Dax waited for me in the ring, Greene lingering behind him. Perfect.

“Come on, Tic-Tac. You can throw a harder punch than that.” Sam cajoled. Steve watched them spar as he took a drink of water. Bucky stood next to him, metal shoulder brushing his flesh one. The feeling was becoming as familiar to him as breathing. It also relaxed him, feeling Buck right there. Sam ducked as Scott threw his fist forward. Steve felt the jostle of Bucky’s body and smiled as they watched Scott fall forward from the momentum of his punch.  
With nothing new at the moment, Steve had been trying to burn off energy whenever he could. He had been feeling restless for weeks and hadn’t been sleeping as well as he should’ve. Thankfully when he did sleep, the nightmares hadn’t been as frequent but it was most likely due to his exhaustion from not sleeping. Bucky hadn’t complained about Steve keeping him up but Steve could see the bags under his eyes. Super soldiers needed sleep just as much as regular soldiers did and Steve felt guilt pool in his stomach at the thought of making Bucky worry. Maybe he would go on a run after sparring, try and clear his head.  
“Do you want to go another round?” Buck asked, pulling out the tie that held his hair back. He put his hair back up and retied it with practiced ease. Steve bit back a smile at the gesture. If Becca could see her brother now, she would be howling in laughter. She had done the same movements with her own hands when tying her hair back. Steve could remember Bucky pulling it out again just to annoy her while teasing her for having such long hair. He nodded his head, shaking away the memories.  
“Sure. Handing your ass to you is good for my morale, jerk.” He grinned at his best friend who shoved him hard. Steve stumbled to the side, smiling again as he heard Bucky laugh.  
“Punk.”

Cricking my neck, I put my hands up. Dax swung and I ducked, the air from his fist musing my air. Breathing deeply, I concentrated on Dax moving and dodging him while pushing my witch skills out around me. After a few more swings, we separated for a moment. I grabbed the edge of my tank and slowly stripped it off, using it as a rag to wipe the sweat from my body. Every eye in the room was zoned in on me and my shirtlessness. The black lace bra I wore was soaked in sweat. This was going better than I had planned.  
When I had first gotten my powers, I had to learn to use them alone. I was the first and most successful subject in Project Siren. I had no one to teach me how to control what I could do. Yoga, meditation, karate, even gymnastics helped hone my abilities. I would spend hours in the training room alone or with General-sanctioned guards and training partners. I had even spent a year at the Red Room. It was hard to explain how I did it though. There was an energy inside me, I could feel it constantly. It moved and reacted to the people around me. It took a few years and a few dead bodies but I learned how much of it I could push out to control, manipulate, or kill.  
Unfortunately, it took a toll on my body. I could only use it so much before I passed out. It had only happened twice but I knew my limits. I also knew that if this was going to work, I needed to be careful. I could feel my power ghost through the crowd, making the tension run higher in the room.  
Turning to Keith, I panted slightly. “I think we’re done for today.”  
He nodded, watching me like a hawk. His eyes seemed focused on a particular drop of sweat running down my collarbone. Dax waved me off, eyes slightly unfocused. I dropped out of the ring gracefully and glanced around. The others in the room were trying not to be obvious about ogling me except for one. Greene. He’d been unusually quiet during training, his eyes raking over me.  
That had been the point of this though. The General was off base for once. If Greene was going to do anything, it would be now. I was counting on his predictability and I needed a few pieces of him to get off this compound.

Only about an hour after returning to my room, a click reached my ears and I turned to see Greene, his tall greasy figure standing in my doorway. Greene stepped in, I looked over his shoulder but Keith was nowhere to be seen.  
He caught my glance and chuckled. “Your guard dog is taking a walk while we...chat.”  
A glint in his hand caught my eye and I took a step back.  
“Don’t worry,” He said with a leer, holding up the needle. “It’s not a full dose. Just enough for me to have a little fun.”  
“Really? You need to drug girls to get them into bed? That’s pretty pathetic.” I spat. This was _not_ part of my plan. If that shit got in me, I’d be useless.  
“Only girls who don’t know their place.” Greene took a step forward and I stepped back. Watching me carefully, he finally lunged. I ducked and rolled across the room but the space was too tight. The needle pricked my skin and he started to plunge the liquid into me before I ripped it out. Damn it. The syringe was half empty.  
“There we go.” He growled. Fingers ran through my hair and gripped hard, pulling my head back. I met his cold, dark eyes right before he smashed his lips on mine. A pathetic moan escaped him as he tried to pry my lips open and back me up towards my bed. I could feel the drug working it’s way into my system. Resting my hands on his chest, I pushed as hard as I dared.  
“What? Is the Super Slut all talk and no action? Is that the real reason the General keeps you locked up? Or maybe the General is keeping you all to himself. Should we be calling you the General’s Whore?” He grabbed my forearm and dragged me back towards him, his face against mine. His cheek rasped against mine. I gagged at the smell of him so close to me. “Maybe once I’m done with you, I’ll go visit your little sister. She’s-”  
Air whooshed out of him as he keeled over in pain. Bastard. I grabbed the back of his neck and rammed my knee into his nose. The groan that came out of his mouth was beyond satisfying. Dizziness hit me hard a second later. Shaking my head, I placed my hands on his head and snapped it to the left. A crunch rippled through his body and then he collapsed on the ground. Pulling out a knife from his belt, I hacked off his right hand with ease. Turning his head, I then pried open his right eye and popped it out. Ugh. Looking up, I met Lizzie’s eyes through our window and nodded. She disappeared but I could hear her grunt in pain. Her transformation was so unpredictable that there was a chance she wasn’t going to be able to change. Her anger at seeing me being manhandled must have been enough to trigger it. Good for us but I wish she didn’t have to see me like that.  
I threw on my jacket and slipped both disgusting items into my pillowcase. Searching Greene’s pockets, I found his phone and slipped it into my pocket then stripped him of all his weapons.  
_**CRASH**_  
I flew back, hitting the wall and sliding down with a groan. Looking up, I could see the giant hole in between my room and Lizzie’s rooms and the hallway. Her green head poked through the dust to watch as I pushed myself up the wall with a hacking cough.  
“Let’s go.”

Thank god Liz had turned. She stormed ahead of me, taking out every single guard in sight. Stumbling along behind her, I managed to keep up just barely, hopping over unconscious (presumably, I for one was not stopping to check) bodies. Even half a dose of that meth-serum seemed to have an effect on me. Granted, I wasn’t passed out but damn things were starting to look a little sideways. Literally.  
We made our way through the compound, avoiding the other experiments’ rooms and the Nursery. My goal was the General’s office. I knew he kept files that we would need but I couldn’t take them. Greene’s phone would be perfect to take pictures of what I couldn’t take with me.  
The two of us reached the General’s office. Pulling out Greene’s disembodied hand, I pressed the fingers against the pad next to the door. Words flashed up at us from the screen.  
_**Please use retinal identification**_  
Holding up the eye to the scanner, I breathed a sigh of relief as the green light flicked on and the door whooshed open. Although it would’ve been easier to have Liz just bust the door open, this door was linked to the General’s phone and would alert him to anyone entering. This would buy us a little bit more time to escape. And luckily, the scanners didn’t check for a pulse.  
Rushing inside, I studied the room. Paintings hung on the walls, a bookcase ran along the wall to my left and a solid wooden desk sat in the back center of the room with a chair behind it. Everything looked exactly like it had days ago when I left for my last mission. I sat down at the computer on the desk and logged in. Tapping away, I managed to hack into the security system and loop the cameras in the office so it would look as if I had just been on his computer and not rooting through his personal stash. I stood up and almost sat right back down, Liz turned back to me and narrowed her eyes in concern.  
Waving my hand to signal I was fine, she turned back to watch the hallway for anyone else, practically bursted the doorframe. I stood again and took a deep breath. I could do this. I had to do this. Reaching for a black leather bound book in the bookcase, I pulled it towards me. Two of the four bookshelves slid outwards then away from each other, revealing a vault. Looking over my shoulder, I cleared my throat to get Lizzie’s attention. She turned to me and I gestured to the door.  
“Lizzie, could you-”  
She reached out a massive green hand and firmly pulled the vault door out of the wall as if it was nothing. The office door may have an alert but I knew the vault didn’t. The General had just complained the other day that due to the construction, metal used, etc on this vault, he wasn’t able to have the same security and therefore relied on the office door to alert him to any unwanted presence. The video cameras peppered through the office would give us away later but I could at least hope he wouldn’t find it suspicious that Greene popped in and would hold off watching the footage for now. Stepping in, I looked at the shelves around me. Books, briefcases, glass cases, and other goodies lined the shelves. I made my way to the fridge at the back. The General, being the paranoid bastard that he is, kept the vial of Steve Roger’s blood locked up while away. I quickly put it into my chest pocket and moved onto taking pictures of any of the files I could get my hands on. The General had an extreme distrust of computers (with good reason) and kept most of his important files as hard copies and locked them up. My watch beeped quietly against my wrist, signaling my time was up. I turned to go but something else caught my eye. Slipping it into my thigh pocket, I stepped out of the vault to join Liz.  
“Think we could put it back and act like it never happened?” I asked sarcastically. She chuckled and placed the torn door back in place. Miraculously, it stayed. I pushed the bookshelves closed and turned to smirk at her. Success.

The brick wall burst into a cloud of dust as Lizzie ran through it. I tripped as I followed her through it. Fuck me. My focus was shit at the moment but we didn’t have time for me to take a trip into Lala land. Slapping myself in the face, I hit the button on my watch and started to catch up to my hulking sister, waiting for my board to arrive. Finally, it drifted up next to me. I rolled onto it, stood up shakily, and sped up to Liz. Seeing that I could keep pace, she began to run through the dark woods surrounding the compound. We did it. We were out. Finally.

Turning the microscope dial, Bruce looked down through the lens again. His desk was cluttered with papers and different experiments. His current one was baffling him. After the break in, everyone had combed through the lab to see what had gone missing. Besides a vial of Steve’s blood, the only other thing was the latest try at an antidote for his condition. Although he was disappointed with the loss of a possible antidote, Vis had found a hair on one of his desks and he was testing it to see if they could match the DNA in their database. And the Federal one. And the International one.  
Bruce shook his head in disbelief and muttered to himself as he looked at the results again. “That can’t be right.”  
The hair seemed to be intact, nothing looked like it had been tampered with but the results were impossible. Shaking his head, he threw the paper on his desk in frustration.  
“Hey, babe.” Nat came up behind him and kissed his cheek. “Why the long face?”  
“Hmm? Oh, just that hair we found. It’s a dead end.” He turned his chair to face his wife and smiled. “And what did I do to deserve a visit from you?”  
Natasha sat down on his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck with a smile. “Just a lucky man, I guess.”  
“Well, I knew that already.” He wound his arms around her slim waist, kissing her softly. A beep from both of their phones stopped them from going any further. Nat groaned and rested her head against his neck.  
“If that’s Tony trying to-”  
“Nat, we need to get upstairs. _Now._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I rewrote this so many times. Still writing. Must have more coffee. Sleep is for the weak.  
> come find me on the twitters @CallMeCap24
> 
> xoxo  
> shelby


	10. Chapter 10

Groggily, I pried open one eye. My head pounded like I’d been hit with a sledge hammer. Liz laid unconscious next to me in her human body, her clothes hanging off of her in shreds. Pushing myself up, I glanced around. The warehouse where we crashed for the night had inches of dust everywhere and one whole wall was crumbling away. I vaguely remembered stumbling in here, Liz still turned, and promptly passing out on the floor. Checking my watch, it showed it was a little after 3am Greenwich time so 6am Moscow time.  
Fishing Greene’s phone out of my pocket, I dialed the number I had memorized weeks ago. The dial tone rang in my ear as I picked at my lower lip.  
“Hello?”

“Did you see?” Nat asked, stalking into the lounge. Bruce was only a step behind her.  
“We saw.” Tony replied, turning back to the zoomed in stills of the news feed. A giant green human-shaped figure was frozen on the screen. They joined the team minus Peter who was in school. Nat taking a seat next to Wanda and Bruce sat next to her, the chair on his left empty since it’s occupant was pacing back and forth. “No chance that you decided to let the big guy go for a stroll?”  
“No.” Bruce shook his head. “Which means we have a problem.”  
“Our girl is there too.” Bucky pointed out across from Nat. Everyone spun to see where he was pointing. In the bottom left corner of the screen was the slightly blurred face of Vixen on a hoverboard. The shock of seeing another Hulk had distracted them from that detail, even Natasha.  
“She has her own Hulk?! What the hell? Only I am allowed to have a Hulk.” Tony sputtered. Bruce rolled his eyes and ignored the brunette.  
“Where was this taken?” Steve asked.  
“FRIDAY traced it to Moscow. We can have the quinjet ready in 20.” Nick Fury responded as he stepped out of the elevator, Maria Hill right behind him. A few of the Avengers traded looks of surprise. None of them had seen Fury or Hill for months, not since the Thanos mess was cleaned up. Steve knew Tony and Nat kept in touch with Fury more than he did but neither had mentioned the former SHIELD director joining them. “You all seem to be playing hide and go seek with this kid, figured you needed some help since _she_ keeps winning.”  
“She is _not_ winning.” Tony muttered, he turned to the imposing Nick. “So it took a knock-off Hulk and a stripper assassin to get you to grace us with your presence? Pepper is not going to be happy, you’ve declined every single dinner invite.”  
“I was a little busy.” Fury deadpanned, taking a seat at the opposite end of the table. Maria joined them on his right. “Now, what is your plan? Or do I need to come up with one for you?”  
Steve cut Tony off before the conversation could get out of hand. “Nat, Bucky, Sam, Tony, and I will go in and extract them. If they’ve disappeared then we’ll report back and regroup. Good enough?”  
“It’ll do. Simple, to the point. Let’s just hope you all _actually_ catch her.” Fury sighed. The elevator ding its arrival causing the group to turn their attention to it. Heels clicking against the tile echoed through the foyer to reveal Pepper Potts.  
She stalked up to them with a genuine smile. “Nick! Maria! FRIDAY just let me that you came to visit. You’ll be staying for dinner, won’t you?”

Lights shone down outside of the warehouse. I could see a giant metal ship landing through the broken wall across from where I crouched. Dust flew everywhere as it settled on the ground.  
Wrapping my jacket around her, I lifted Liz. Careful not to jostle her too much, I picked my way through the rumble and rushed onto the ramp. It rose as I clambered inside the ship. And stumbled into a raccoon.  
“Who the hell-Oh, _hello_ there.” Said raccoon looked me up and down with an appreciative glance. I froze for a moment, not really sure if I was flattered or freaked out. A _raccoon_ just checked me out. Granted it was a genetically modified _talking_ raccoon. Dear lord, I needed _so_ much therapy.  
“I am Groot.” I looked up at a tree. Unconciously, my hands tightened around Liz, bringing her closer to me. The files had gone over all of the strange aliens that lived on StarLord’s ship but it was a hell of a different story when those aliens were _right in front of you._  
“Groot! Have I taught you nothing? That is no way to speak to a lady!” A man in his 30’s joined us in what seemed to be a common area. “Ignore him. He’s going through his teenage phase and needs to learn manners.”  
“Groot is correct though. She is very pleasing.” A deep voice spoke behind me. I turned to see a man with very light skin shot through with red tattoos. Or something. A smaller human shaped woman with antennae and large eyes leaned around him. My brain was starting to overload.  
I turned back to the only human I’d seen so far, focusing on something familiar, human. “I’m guessing you’re Peter?”  
“What gave it away? My stunning good looks? Winning personality?”  
“Your voice, StarAss.” I walked past him towards the front of the ship, looking for a bed to lay Liz down.  
“It’s-it’s StarLord.” He sighed behind me, following us through the ship. “And you’re welcome!”  
“For what?”  
“Giving you a ride. What else?” He scoffed. Peter watched as I settled Liz down and checked her breathing. I wasn’t sure if her being out this long had to do with the transformation or just exhaustion.  
“So far you’ve just picked us up. Getting us out of here might be nice.”  
He huffed and headed up a staircase. “So ungrateful.”  
I bit my lip to keep from laughing at him. A moment later, I felt the ship move.  
“Is she dead?”  
I jumped, turning to see the antennae woman next to me. Mantis, if I remembered correctly. “No. She’s asleep.”  
“Will she die and then you will consume her body to gain her power?” The large man-thing asked. Drax, that was it. The file mentioned that he was a little socially inept.  
“No. Jeez, you guys are morbid.” A few moments later Peter joined us, looking around the bunks.  
“We’re on autopilot right now. Should be good while we sort this out.” He shooed the others towards the common area. Gripping my arm, he dragged me to join them. “So you already know me. That’s Groot, Rocket, Mantis, and Drax.”  
“I know.”  
“You-wait, you know? How?” He asked with surprise.  
“I read your files. Now, if you’ll excuse me-” I went to go back towards Liz only to be stopped by two hands holding me in place.  
“Woah, woah, woah. You are not going anywhere just yet.” Peter pushed me into a seat and settled himself down across from me. The others were lounging around the room watching us intently. Rocket winked at me as I glanced around. _So_ much therapy.  
“I need to take care of my sister.” I insisted.  
“No, you _need_ to tell us what the hell is going on. We just picked your delinquent ass up without much info on what happened. So spill.” Giving me a pointed look, Peter sat back and crossed his arms.

Bucky scouted through the northwest quadrant of the warehouse. Nothing. They had done a quick sweep before splitting up to search for any clues about Vixen and where she may have gone.  
“Anything?” Steve asked, coming up behind him.  
“Not a damn thing. You?” The frown on Steve’s face answered his question. They made their way back towards the others at the center of the warehouse.  
“I found footprints. But that’s all.” Natasha relayed as they approached, frustration bleeding into her words. “Size 9 boot is consistent. But the other...boys, we’re looking for a very small Hulk. Those prints are half the size of the Big Guy’s.”  
Tony landed next to Nat in the Iron Man suit. His mask opened to reveal a very pissed off billionaire. “Landing marks outside. She flew out of here. I just had FRIDAY check flight patterns and guess who made a pit stop?”  
Nat, Steve, Bucky, and Sam traded confused looks.  
“Batman?” Sam joked.  
“Close. Han Solo.” Tony’s face disappeared behind the mask again, his muffled voice leaking out. “FRIDAY, call Peter Quill.”

“Long story short? HYDRA turned my sister into mini-Hulk, I stole some stuff from the Avengers to fix her, blew up a HYDRA base, and now I need you to watch her while I go ask the Avengers to help me save the world.” I leaned across the table between us and smiled. “Good enough for you?”  
“No. I expect a full in depth story later tonight.” He replied with a wink. I rolled my eyes at the lame attempt at flirting. Clearly someone was effected by my powers but it seemed pretty low-grade for what I normally dealt with. And considering that Rocket was currently checking out my almost non-existent boobs, I knew my pheromone levels were normal. Either StarAss had zero game or he was still part god or whatever and wasn’t enthralled by me. It was a nice change. He leaned forward a bit. “So what do you need to see your sister for, buttercup? She’s asleep.”  
“Don’t call me buttercup.” I growled. He smirked back, the arrogant dick. “I need to get her an antidote. I’d rather do it while she’s passed out, hopefully it’ll be easier for her.”  
“What is wrong with her? Will your potion turn her into a man-eating monster and then she will consume Peter then you? Will she grow tentacles?” Drax asked bluntly.  
I eyed the alien with worry. “There’s something wrong with you.”  
“Ignore him. We normally do.” Rocket suggested from his spot to my right.  
“Can I go now?” Impatient laced my question.  
“Go. But I’m serious about tonight. I want the full story.” He stabbed a finger at me. Agreeing quickly, I made my way back to the bunk I had left Liz. Carefully, I pulled out the antidote. I made due with some water close by and the edge of the sheet she laid on to clean her arm up a bit.  
“Ok. Here we go.” I plunged the antidote into her vein and held my breath. This _had_ to work. I watched her face as the liquid disappeared from the syringe. Feeling Peter over my shoulder, I did my best to ignore him.  
“AHHHHH!” Liz shot up straight, screaming her head off. I threw myself on her, holding her small body down as she thrashed. Peter tried to come and help but I shook my head.  
“Don’t! Don’t, I’ve got it!”  
Parts of her body began to grow then shrink or turn green then turn back to her normal pale color. Her flailing turned more aggressive and she tried to escape my grip. Using every ounce of strength, I held her in a basket hold then moved to restraining her against my chest. After about 10 minutes (honestly it felt like hours) Liz quieted down then passed out. Gently, I laid her down and drew a blanket around her. Peter quietly stood from his spot in the corner, motioning me to go up to the flight deck. I shook my head but he herded me there anyway.  
“What the hell was that?” He hissed, pushing me across the room to the ladder leading to the flight deck.  
“You know Bruce Banner? And his problem?” I asked. He nodded silently. “HYDRA made her like him a few weeks ago. I couldn’t let her live like that.”  
“Fair enough.” Tapping his fingers against a rung of the ladder, he back at the sleeping teenager in one of his beds. “Will she be ok?”  
Honesty felt like the best answer at this point. “I don’t know.”  
He nodded in resignation. I was asking a lot from a guy I had just met. It did make me feel a little guilty but I couldn’t dwell on that. Peter opened his mouth when a ringing from above cut him off.  
“Shit.” He moved around me to dash up the stairs. Following quickly, we made our way onto the flight deck where he sat in his pilot chair. I looked over his shoulder to see Peter tapping something on his dashboard. It began to ring again. “God damn douchebag.”  
“Who is it?”  
“Stark. Don’t say anything.” He growled. Tapping a button, a voice filled the cabin.  
“Quill. I’ve been trying to get a hold of you. Were you just on Earth?” An annoyed voice filled the cabin.  
“Nooo. What gave you that idea?” I facepalmed myself. This idiot. Jesus.  
“Really? Cause your tracker says you were.”  
“Tracker? Dude, that’s stalking.”  
“Any chance you’ve seen a young woman, about my height? Dark hair? Annoying as hell.”  
“Nope,” Peter turned to watch me as he responded. “But if she annoys you that much, I’ll have to buy her a drink. Look, not to be rude but I’m not supposed to talk and fly. Rules of the sky and all.”  
“Bullshit, you-” Irritation bled into the voice on the speaker.  
“Oh no _pssssh_ you’re break _pssssh_ BYE!” Peter hung up then tapped a few more buttons. Spinning back around, he cocked his head at me. “Did you know he had a tracker on me?”  
“No, but I’m not surprised. He’s paranoid.” I shrugged, turning back to check that Liz was still asleep. Hopefully, she would be passed out for hours so she could rest while the ship slowly cruised through space. I couldn’t be sure if the antidote had worked though without any tests. If only I had- “Hey, Peter? Could I make a call real quick?”

 _ **Ring. Ring.**_  
“Thank you for calling Stark Industries, this is Kristy speaking, how may I assist you today?” A chipper voice rang through the cabin. Peter groaned quietly in his chair next to me. I rolled my eyes. So dramatic.  
“Hi, Kristy! Could you patch me through to Dr. Banner’s office?”  
“And who is calling, ma’am?” Kristy’s voice dripping with forced politeness.  
“His wife.”  
“Patching through now.” Peter looked at me with surprise. As the ringing continued, I talked over it.  
“Bloodline override. Code: Victor. India. X-ray. Echo. November. Friday? You there?” I called out. A moment later, a curt Irish voice answered me.  
“Good evening, Miss Vixen. How may I assist you?”  
“You hacked Stark’s AI?” Peter asked with shock.  
“Not really. Shush. Friday, is there a way that you could scan my sister to see if she has any gamma radiation left in her?”  
“The StarkPhone in the glove compartment can scan her, Miss.”  
I turned to the space man with narrowed eyes. “You have a StarkPhone?”  
“What? That little piece of crap from Stark? That’s not a phone, it’s a tchotchke.” Peter scoffed.  
I smacked his shoulder with the back of my hand and he yelped. “You moron, that’s how he’s tracking you.”  
“Ow. Did you have to hit me?”  
I rolled my eyes. Leaning over, I popped open the compartment and rooted around. Pulling out the small device, I pushed a few buttons until the screen popped up. “Ok, what should I do, Friday?”  
“Hold the StarkPhone in front of her, Miss. I will have it scan her.” Pushing myself up, I walking down to stand in front of my sleeping sister. A blue light shot out of the phone and moved up and down her body. “Scan complete. Her body shows no trace of gamma radiation or any other foreign substances. There is a slight deficiency of vitamin D.”  
“Thanks, Friday.”  
“Is there anything I can do for you, Miss?”  
“Can you turn off the tracker in the phone?” I asked, walking back up to join Peter at the controls.  
“Of course, Miss Vixen.”  
Sitting down in the co-pilot chair, I breathed a sigh of relief. It worked. Stark couldn’t track us. Which meant HYDRA probably couldn’t either. This was turning out to be a great fucking day. “You’re the best, Friday.”

“Do I have to stay here? Can’t I go with you?” Liz whined, eying the dirty captain with distrust.  
“I just need to take care of a few things and then you can come back. It’s safer for you here.” A crash reverberated through the cabin followed by a curse. “Ok, well safer than Earth. I promise, you can come back as soon as I take care of it.”  
“Are you going to go help Captain America and the Winter Soldier?” She whispered.  
“Liz, you know he’s not the Soldier anymore. And Captain’s name is Steve. You know they _are_ actual people.” Disapproval coming out of me automatically.  
“I _know_ but the Winter Soldier sounds more badass than _Bucky_.” I raised an eyebrow at her cursing. “And Captain is it? Captain Steve. That’s not too bad. Captain Rogers is better. And Sergeant Barnes is _ok_ , I guess.”  
I chose to just ignore that last bit. The brat had woken up as if nothing had happened. Peter and I had spent the night discussing everything and what I planned to do. I hadn’t shared every detail but he knew enough. Liz had popped up during our conversation and demanded to be fed. After eating, I had to share my plan with Liz. It wasn’t going over well. “Yes, I’m going to go and help them. And try to stop the General.”  
“Project In-Vitro too?”  
“Of course.”  
“Can’t I like stay with in the Tower while you save everybody?” She pouted.  
“No, Liz. Besides, Peter will show all kinds of cool stuff. You’ll get to go to different planets. Like Star Wars.” I poked her in the side and smiled as she giggled. “You’ll be fine here. Now, how about you go pick out a bunk?”  
I straightened up to watch as she ran off but met the captain’s eyes instead. He was leaning against the doorframe looking at me.  
“And you?” Peter asked, arms crossed. I could feel the seriousness rolling off of him.  
“What?” I raised an eyebrow at him, a little confused.  
“Well, from what you told me, it doesn’t seem like it’s any safer for you down there.”  
“Look, I can take care of myself. Besides, I can’t leave those idiots alone.” I smirked then sighed. “Are you sure this is ok?”  
“You keep asking me that. We’re the Guardians of the Galaxy! We can babysit one kid!” He exclaimed. Suddenly, a figure came rushing into the common room. Groot was waving his arm around which was currently on fire. Rocket followed behind him with a fire extinguisher and covered Groot in the foam while yelling profanities. I raised my eyebrow at Peter. He gave me a stern look. “She’ll be fine.”  
“I can’t believe this is what I’m resorting to.”  
“Like you had other options?” Peter scoffed.

“Make sure you play Taylor Swift for them.” I whispered to Liz.  
“Maybe some Disney songs too?” She asked with a smirk. The girl could be such a little shit. I loved it.  
“Damn straight. I better hear them singing Moana when I call.” I demanded. Bending over, I wrapped my arms around Lizzie and hugged her tight. At 5’8”, I only had to bend a little. The brat was growing too fast. She put her arms around my neck and hugged me back as hard as she could. We pulled away from each other and I looked to see her wiping a hand across her face, trying to be discreet. I pushed her hair back behind her ears. Jesus, this sucked but I did feel like this was the right thing to do. “I love you.”  
“I love you, too. Be careful.”  
“Always am.” I straightened up and made my way to the loading ramp. I turned back and waited as Peter landed the Milano safely. He popped down as the ramp started to descend. Liz stood with the rest of the crew, watching us. I looked up at him seriously. “Anything happens to her, StarAss, and I will mount you on my wall.”  
“Kinky.” He smirked, crossing his arms over his chest. “Hey, if need us, just call. We’re only a few systems away.”  
I smiled up at him with gratitude. Maybe it was my powers that made him offer but somehow I think he would’ve offered anyway. “Thank you. And thank you for everything. I’ll call you guys tomorrow, ok?”  
“Looking forward to it.”  
I stepped off and walked across the docking bay of the Avengers Tower. I heard the sounds of the ship taking off but refused to turn back and wave them off like a sap. As I reached the doors, my phone buzzed in my pocket. Pulling it out, I couldn’t help but let out a laugh.  
_**StarAss:**_ _Make sure you give Stark hell, kitten._

Steve leaned against a desk in Tony’s workshop, listening to the man prattle on about his frustrations with trying to find Vixen. They had returned from Moscow yesterday with nothing to show for it. Tony was convinced that Peter Quill had taken her for some strange conspiracy theory of taking out the Avengers. To be honest, Steve had started to tune out about 20 minutes ago. The man had continued to pace back and forth, stopping every few minutes to tinker with something before continuing his tirade. Steve regretted coming down here in the first place. He had just wanted to make sure Tony had followed up with Quill, trying to contact him again.  
“Boss? You have a visitor.” FRIDAY interrupted politely. The smaller man halted in his tracks, spinning around to face Steve.  
“Who?” Tony demanded, Steve could feel his excitement from across the room.  
FRIDAY continued to talk as though her creator hadn’t spoken. “All Avengers are being assembled now. Please report to the common area, Boss.”

Bucky, Bruce, and Nat had caught Steve and Tony on their ride up to the 81st floor. Sam, Wanda, Vis, Peter, and Thor were currently riding in the elevator adjacent to theirs, racing them towards the common area. The elevator shuttered to a stop and Bucky heard the other elevator ding their arrival at the same exact time. Strange. FRIDAY must have made sure they all arrived together. _Or someone else did_ , Bucky thought wryly.  
They stepped out and joined the rest of the team. Tony and Steve headed the group with Natasha, Bucky, and Sam falling in line behind them.  
“Do not shoot her, Romanoff. I want answers first.” Tony growled, armoring his hands with his watch. The gold and red plating rolled back along his forearms silently.  
“Spoil sport.” She muttered, still pulling her handgun out of its holster.  
Bucky noticed that Bruce made sure to stay on her heels as they walked across the foyer, worry etching his face. He knew that the doctor would let his wife do what she needed to but would be as close as he could just in case. Because that’s exactly what he was doing to Steve. Rounding the corner, Bucky stepped closer to the left of Steve’s suddenly frozen body. Following his best friend’s eyes, he found a young woman perched on the kitchen bar holding a cup of steaming coffee and froze himself.  
She grinned widely at the group. “You know, you guys should really get better security.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I really need to put Fury in? No. But I do what I want.
> 
> xoxo  
> shelby


	11. Chapter 11

“What the _hell_ are you doing here?” Tony Stark growled beside Steve Rogers. I stayed silent as they began to filter into the room which felt much smaller suddenly. I watched the captain carefully as he walked across the room to stand on my left, his eyes not leaving mine.  
“You don’t seemed as charmed by me as you were our last couple of meetings.” I observed over the top of my mug of coffee.  
“I don’t find theft and murder to be all that charming. Call me old fashioned.” He stepped cautiously across the room. “Now answer Tony’s question, what are you doing here?”  
He stopped about two feet away. Barnes joined him on his left, Falcon a little behind him on his right, and the others spread out around the room. I shrugged, grinning a little at him. “I may or may not have partially blown up a HYDRA base. Needed a place to lie low. Oh and I brought presents.”  
I put my coffee down and went to reach for my breast pocket when the sound of a gun being shot echoed through the room. The bullet glanced off my right shoulder and I looked up to see Black Widow glaring at me. “Hands up.”  
She pointed the gun at my heart this time. Slowly I put my hands up, palms out. The assassin nodded at Captain. He walked over, making sure I was in line of Widow’s gun. I looked up at his through my lashes, not moving my head.  
“Breast pocket. That one is for you.” He reached over to my left pocket, unzipping it then slipped his hand inside. I smirked and he shot me a glare as his hand felt just the lining of my pocket. “ _Other_ pocket. Although, I didn’t mind the pat down.”  
He huffed, a slight blush creeping up on his cheeks. Shit, he was adorable. Captain slipped his hand into the other pocket, pulling out the vial of his blood.  
“The other is for the Sarge. Thigh pocket.”  
“Which one?”  
“Left.” I grinned as he reached down for my right leg pocket. His fingers skimmed my thigh before I corrected him. “ _My_ left.”  
Shaking his head, he went into my left thigh pocket and pulled out a small red book with a black star in its center. He inhaled sharply as he took in what he was looking at. “Where did you get this?”  
“Secret vault in a HYDRA base. Where else?”  
“Did you read it?” He asked calmly, staring right into my eyes.  
“I do have _some_ self control, thank you very much.” I retorted. He didn’t look amused. I rolled my eyes at his seriousness. Dude had some trust issues. “No, I didn’t read it.”  
He backed up, keeping his eyes on me. Slowly, he reached back and placed the book into Bucky Barnes’ metal hand. Color drained from the Sergeant's face when he saw what he was handed and he looked back up at me.  
“Happy birthday, Soldier.” I waved a hand around. “Belated birthday.”  
“How do you know my birthday?” He asked warily.  
“You told me.”  
“When?”  
“6 years ago. I mean it’s not a Reiser signed baseball but I figured it was a close second.” I said with a slight shrug of my shoulders.  
“You-how do you-”  
“Like I said. You told me.” I sighed. Glancing over at Widow, she glared at me. Damn, if looks could kill. “Can I put my arms down now?”  
“No.” Widow growled.  
“What is she talking about Barnes?” Stark asked, looking over at Bucky.  
“Steve gave me that baseball. For my birthday. 1941. We were both at the game. He caught the ball, son of a bitch. Then snuck away and got it signed. Best birthday gift I’ve ever gotten.” He squinted at me. “You seem familiar but I can’t remember.”  
“Not surprised. Your brain got scrambled so many times, it’s a wonder you function at all.” I said softly but he twitched slightly at the reminder. Shit. I wasn’t trying to be a bitch. It was true though. It really was amazing how functional he was currently. The man had not only been tortured during war but now had a metal arm, years of brainwashing, and was frozen on and off too many times. “You look good by the way. Health-”  
Suddenly, a bell rang through the floor. No a soul turned as heels clicked down the hallway. I watched as a middle-aged woman walked in on a tablet, she looked up and around the odd group clustered in her living room. “Friday said we had a guest?”  
“Hello, dear. Just interrogating our little b-and-e expert here.” Stark said as if we were having tea and there wasn’t a gun pointed at my head.  
“Pepper Potts, right?” I asked.  
“Yes? You know who I am?”  
“Of course, I loved the article on you in _Vanity Fair_.” I knew it was Pepper Potts but people like to be recognized, especially if it’s for something they did and not their looks. Besides flattering step-mom-to-be, I did actually like the work that she did. Pepper was a genuine person who had run and elevated Stark Industries. If I’d had a normal childhood, she would’ve been someone I’d have strived to be. Ok, I _may_ have been internally fangirlling a little. Shut up.  
“Can we get back to the point?” Stark interjected with a huff. Pepper moved decisively towards the group, standing between Thor and Wanda Maximoff.  
Widow interrupted my inspection of the group. “What about the antidote?”  
“I don’t have it.” A shot rang out, shrapnel flew and hit me on my right side. At this rate, my body was going to be Swiss cheese. I kept my gaze on Widow, not blinking. “It’s gone.”

Bucky could almost see the steam coming out of Nat’s ears.  
“What the _hell_ did you do with it?” Nat gripped her gun tighter. Bruce looked worriedly between Nat and Vixen. He didn’t seem half as upset as Nat was about his possible antidote being gone forever.  
Vixen rolled her eyes. “Mixed it with vodka. What do you think?”  
“Those were the last ingredients we had and you just-” He could hear the frustration in Nat’s voice but Vixen cut her off harshly.  
“Sorry I prioritized a 14 year old girl who’s had it for a month over a 50 year old man who’s dealt with it for over a decade! My bad!”  
Bucky saw Nat’s finger twitch. Vixen had thrown her although he doubted any of the others would have caught it except for Steve. If he was looking. Which he currently wasn’t.  
“You have no-”  
“14?” Bruce asked.  
“Yeah,” Vixen said, turning her attention to the doctor. “My sister.”  
“Did it work?”  
“For her, yes. For you, I doubt it would’ve. It hadn’t bonded with her DNA yet.” Vixen paused and looked at Bruce with sincerity, her hands still in the air. “I am honestly sorry. I didn’t know those were the last of the ingredients.”  
“Why not?”  
“Sorry?”  
“Why wouldn’t it have worked? On me?” Bruce looked at her curiously.  
“Like I said, it didn’t bond with her DNA yet. You’ve had it in your body for over 10 years. It’s part of you now. If anything, it would’ve been a temporary fix. Those were highly addictive ingredients too. You’d become dependent on them after a while and when you ran out, you probably wouldn’t be able to change back.” She responded as if they were discussing a popular movie or book and not Bruce’s DNA.  
Bruce narrowed his eyes at her. “You seem a little young to be an expert in genetics.”  
“I read your notes. I tweaked the formula a little bit before taking it. Your levels were slightly off.”  
The doctor opened his mouth in shock. “Excuse me?”  
“Yeah, you needed-”  
“I’m sorry but when did this become a Stark Expo? I’d like to know how you got in here and how the hell you broke FRIDAY?” Tony interrupted. Buck was surprised that he’d been silent this long.  
“I didn’t break her.” Vixen replied with a confused look.  
Tony scoffed. “Oh, really? Then why is everything I try to search on you blocked? What virus did you put in it?”  
“Nothing. Right, Friday?”  
“Yes, Miss Vixen. All circuits are functioning correctly.” FRIDAY said matter-of-factly.  
“See? She’s fine.” Vixen said casually. “I just asked her not to tell you anything.”  
“You did WHAT?” Tony screeched. Bucky was going to go deaf if he got any louder or higher pitched.  
Vixen scoffed at the billionaire. “For a genius, you are really dumb. Or maybe you’re just going deaf, old man.”  
“Old man? OLD MAN? That’s it! I’m throwing you off of the Tower.”  
“TONY.”  
“PEPPER!”  
“You are not launching a child out of the window!” Scolded Pepper.  
“I’m 19, just to clarify.” Vixen pointed out although she was completely ignored.  
“SHE BROKE MY FRIDAY! AND CALLED ME OLD!” Tony raged at his fiancé who glared at him.  
“This is fun. Are all family meetings like this?” Vixen asked with glee.  
“SHUT UP!” Tony roared. Vixen flinched at the tone. Suddenly, Bucky remembered her.  
_“Bucky.” He said gruffly. “My name. Is Bucky.”_  
“Alright, I’ll call you Bucky. But only if you call me Vix.” Bucky nodded and the girl smiled. She crossed her legs on the chair and rested her head in her hand with her elbow on her knee. “I’m not really sure what we’re supposed to be doing to be honest. The General said to get to know you but no offense, I’m not sure if you know you.”  
Silence met her statement so she continued talking as if the silence didn’t effect her. “Do you watch sports? I like hockey. I got to go to a hockey game in Canada on my last mission. It was awesome, very intense, like camping-” Bucky watched the girl giggle then rambled on without any input from him. The General had told him why he was there but he couldn’t be sure if she knew. She was very young, too young for what the General had said she was supposed to do. Even the Soldier in him was slightly off put by the plan. Bucky still wavered between being the Soldier and Bucky in the memory, it was disconcerting. Even more disconcerting was the current Bucky reliving this. It was as if current-Bucky was watching and feeling his past self through the past-Bucky-Soldier’s eyes, the self who fought his own body everyday. This Vixen was young but clearly the same one who was just standing in front of him. He watched as she continued to talk. It soothed the Bucky part of him, the Soldier part felt nothing and just observed.  
“Baseball.” Bucky whispered. Vixen paused mid-sentence and stared at him, her eyes lit with excitement. “I like. Baseball.”  
“You’re from Brooklyn so you’re probably a Yankees fan.” And then she was off, spouting game stats and her favorite players. All too soon a guard entered, ending their meeting.Vix flinched when the guard’s hand shot out, wrapping around her forearm. Before he knew what was happening, Bucky’s metal arm shot out and crushed the guard’s windpipe. He watched her being dragged out of the room before being subdued.

“Bucky!” I slipped past Captain before Widow could even blink. My knees hit the floor and I crowded into Bucky’s space where he was hyperventilating. Grasping his flesh foreman, I brought my other hand up to the back of his neck. “Breathe. Steve is here. You are home. You are safe.”  
“Vix.” Bucky gasped, placing his metal hand over the one on his face. The temperature difference sent a chill through me.  
“Yes. It’s me. Breathe.” I whispered. His ice blue eyes met mine, damn. He looked to be in so much pain. Memories of previous meetings flit through my brain. I didn’t even think what this would do to him. Our meetings hadn’t been the best but I had grown to care for the man. It had been 5 years since he had ditched HYDRA and it seemed that my worry for him hadn’t disappeared. Slowly, I pushed some of power into him. Just enough to help him gain some control back. “You are safe. Big breath, there you go. Steve is here.”  
“Steve?” His eyes flew around until he saw his target behind me. He breathed a sigh of relief. “Steve.”  
“Yup. Boyfriend is here. You’re good.” I smiled slightly. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw that Widow still had her gun trained on me. There was also a large figure towering over me.  
“What the hell was that?” Captain growled, yanking me up.  
“Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?” I quipped back. He stepped closer until I had to look up at him to see his face. I mean the view at eye level was pretty good too but I feel like maintaining eye contact was key at the moment. I stepped back to try and get some personal space only to be herded against the counter I just jumped off of. My elbow hit the coffee mug, sending it to the floor. No one even flinched as it shattered everywhere.  
“What did you do to Bucky?” I certainly did not make his good side.  
“I helped him calm down. Why? Do you like seeing your boyfriend unhinged? That’s a pretty messed up kink. And unhealthy. You should see a therapist for that.”  
“How do you know him?” He demanded.  
“She’s from the Red Room.” Widow interjected, appearing behind Captain’s shoulder.  
“Red Room trained, Hydra owned.” I shot back.  
Widow walked up and grabbed my wrist, snapping it back. Literally. “OW! What is wrong with you?”  
“And you were just going to leave out the fact you’re a super soldier.”  
“YOU COULD HAVE JUST ASKED. Jesus, what is wrong with you people? Use your words.” I pulled my hand back and felt it gently, it seemed to just be dislocated. I placed my wrist back in it’s socket, god damn that hurt. The pain would ebb in a moment but that was beside the point. “And it’s a little more complicated than that.”  
“How could it be more complicated?” Stark spat, he was now on Captain’s other side. “What are you?”  
“ _Who_ are you?” Captain asked after Stark.  
I rubbed the bridge of my nose with my non-busted hand. “Friday? Which question will cause the least likely result of a heart attack?”  
“For you or Mr. Stark?” Said Mr. Stark squawked.  
“I guess him.” I sighed.  
“The question of what you are will be taken much better than if you lead with who you are, Miss Vixen.” She replied promptly. Great.  
“Friday, unlock Project Siren files. Code Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo Oscar Foxtrot Foxtrot.” Bucky and Falcon looked at me with humor, Captain on the other hand rolled his eyes. Good to see that Bucky was recovering quickly from that little episode. “Friday, please inform everyone of _what_ exactly I am.”  
“As you wish, Miss Vixen.” Screens popped up with the data from HYDRA. Clearly Friday had a lot more influence than I gave her credit for. “Project Siren. Genetically enhanced human beings using pheromones to incapacitate, control, or kill targets. Increased strength. Siren serum unstable in humans under age 12. Survival rate of Siren serum: 4.5%. Current subjects in Project Siren: 317 females, 1 male. All subjects will be moved to Project In-Vitro or Project Vixen at full maturity depending on-”  
“Thanks, Friday.” I cut her off quickly. I knew that proceeding into one of those programs depended not only on mental stability but also how complacent the subject was. Not something I really wanted to think about or elaborate on. If they were really interested then they could research it themselves later. Friday _clearly_ had it available. “Unlock Project Vixen files please.”  
“Yes, Miss Vixen.” More files popped up on top of the ones currently on screen. I watched as Dr. Banner walked closer to the screen to our left. Ever the scientist. The others watched from their spots around the room except for Captain, Bucky, and Widow. Those 3 had their eyes locked on me only. Even Stark had backed up a few feet to investigate.  
“Phase 1?” He muttered, moving a few files around. He had tapped open my personal file. Although there were different projects within HYDRA, many of the subjects I had known were shuffled around between them. The actual Project files gave specifics to what they were where as my _personal_ file was what they had planned for me.  
“Question, Dr. Banner?” I said, pulling my legs up on the counter to get comfortable, laying my hand in my lap. He looked over his shoulder but turned back to read my file.  
“How many Phases?” He asked.  
“3 as far as I know. Well 3 and a half I guess. There’s a backup for Phase 3.” I pointed at the picture of me on the left from 7 years ago. “Phase 1: Subject enters Project Siren. If you’ll look at the notes, you’ll see I was 12 when that happened. Super fun. Lots of muscle spasms, blacking out, the whole kit and kaboodle. My body had a reaction to the serum. Well, _everyone_ had a reaction but personally it took about 7 months of those symptoms before everything leveled out. Oh but that wasn’t even the best part. See the Siren serum makes the subject more desirable. Not only can I release pheromones through my skin to incapacitate someone but my very body just oozes with them to make people flock to me. I’ve manage to control it over the years but for the first year or two well...there were casualties. Some people really don’t know how to take no for an answer.”  
The tension in the room rose at my discreet explanation. Pepper especially seemed disturbed by this, her face loosing several shades of color. I wasn’t joking when I told the General that making Liz into a mini-Hulk was stupider than making me Super Slut at 12. It was incredibly stupid to do that to a child. Human Resources would have been swamped for months after I was turned. If they had a Human Resources in HYDRA.  
“Phase 2: Subject enters Project Vixen. Genetically enhanced subject from Project Siren injected with Super Soldier Serum-” FRIDAY relayed.  
I interrupted once more. “Knock-off Serum. Sorry, Friday but that’s important.”  
“Apologies, Miss Vixen. Genetically enhanced subject from Project Siren injected with ‘knock-off’ Super Soldier Serum. Soldier serum unstable in subjects under 18 years of age. Survival rate of Soldier serum: 0.0001%. Current subjects in Project Vixen: 1. All subjects to be moved to Project MSS after successful training and full physical and mental health evaluation. No subjects cleared to proceed until approved by The General.”  
“Knock-off serum?” Bucky muttered questioningly. I turned my attention to him and raised an eyebrow.  
“Yours wasn’t pure Soldier Serum either, Bucko. It was based off of the real thing. Captain over here is the only true Super Soldier, everything else is a knock-off. Mine isn’t even as good as yours. I got the strength, the speed, and excellent hearing-well, better hearing, I already had super hearing in my left ear before the serum.” I gestured to my left ear. “But I’m not at your level, you guys are still better than me.”  
“How could you have super hearing before the serum?” A guy younger than me asked. I wasn’t clear on who he was. None of the files had shown his face.  
“Who are you?” I asked, trying not to sound too bitchy.  
“Oh, I’m Peter.” He said with a slight wave.  
“Isn’t child labor illegal?” I shot, mainly at Captain and Stark. Considering I had been called a child _multiple times_ by these morons, I was offended that they had a literal underaged kid working with them. Hypocrites.  
“Hyperacusis.” Dr. Banner replied. “Were you getting ear aches?”  
“Yeah. Too many practices in the gun range and my eyes would start watering from the pain. Surgery wasn’t in HYDRA's budget so I had to suck it up.” I shrugged. “The Soldier Serum actually ended up stabilizing it which was a bonus.”  
“Hmm, you had tinnitus too.” He nodded then brought us back on track. “And Phase 3?”  
“Phase 3 slash 3.2 also known as Project MSS.” Gesturing to the far right file, I watched the room carefully. “Friday? If you would?”  
“Of course, Miss Vixen. Phase 3: Subject enters Project MSS formally known as Project Mini Super Soldier. Genetically enhanced subject from Project Vixen receives sperm donation from Captain Steve Rogers, also known as Captain America, and or Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes, also known as the Winter Soldier or the Asset. Phase 3 is a donation from a live donor. Phase 3.2 is donation in-vitro if no live donor available. Subject must be cleared by The General. Subject to be moved to the Nursery upon completion of Phase 3.”  
The blood draining from so many faces would be hilarious if it wasn’t such a serious situation. I truly thought for a moment that either Captain or Bucky would pass out.  
“And or?” Dr. Banner asked. “How many donations were they planning?”  
“As many as they could get out of me, I imagine. The more at once, the better.” I shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. Phase 3 was by far my worst nightmare. Not only would I be locked in the Nursery but I would most likely never leave it. “That’s not the biggest problem though and it’s part of the reason I’m here. I might be the only subject right _now_ but a whole new batch of Sirens are turning 18 in a few months. I can’t shut down that project by myself. Destroying half the building only meant that they’ll move somewhere else and quickly. I need your help.”

“You- Us-” Steve stuttered. Vixen looked slightly confused by his incomplete sentences.  
“Did I break you?” She asked, leaning closer. The sound of a gun being shot stopped her movement. Steve watched her turn towards Natasha with a scathingly glare. “Someone’s a little trigger happy.”  
“Back up, Teen Mom.” Nat growled.  
“You’re so tiny though. I’ve heard them going at it.” Falcon shuddered then looked her up and down. “Did they really expect you to be able to handle _both_ of them, let alone one of them?”  
“I was made for super soldiers. Hence being shot up with the serum. It makes me less...breakable.” She shrugged as if it was _normal_ for someone to be made into a super soldier to have children.  
“Excuse me?” Tony asked with disgust.  
“I mean that literally. All of my “powers” were picked to seduce super soldiers and then have sex with them. Have either of you even tried to have sex with someone other than each other?” Bucky and Steve shared a look that answered her question. “Well, let’s try and not do that. It’s not fun and it’s definitely not recommended. Super strength doesn’t just go away when you want it to, especially during sex.”  
“But you were part of the Red Room, how could you-” Nat asked, part disbelieving and part anger.  
“The Red Room had a few changes since you left. That being one of them. HYDRA sort of took over. All Widows are now being moved to Project In-Vitro after being approved by the General. The better you are, the longer they hold off on the move.” Vixen replied. “And I wasn’t _part_ of the Red Room. I’m HYDRA owned, I just had some Red Room training a few years ago.”  
“You keep saying that.” Vision observed quietly from his spot across the room. About half of the occupants had been silent so it was sort of a shock back to reality when they spoke up. With Steve, Nat, and Tony taking over the majority of the questioning, it seemed as though they were in their own bubble. “What do you mean? You are a person, no one owns you.”  
“I beg to differ. Just because I’m human doesn’t mean I can’t be owned. And with all of the experiments and serums in me, I’m not even sure I’m human anymore.” She replied, facing Vision completely. “I’m told where to go, who to kill, who to sleep with. I’m a human Barbie doll most of the time. Stand there, look pretty. I don’t get to choose.”  
“Why didn’t you just leave?” Sam looked between the two of them. “You have the serum so you could have just walked out the door.”  
“And leave my sister behind? I’m not a _monster_. I would _never_ willing leave her behind there.” Vixen shot a scathing look at him. “Look, can we actually focus on the point of me being here? Project In-Vitro.”  
“You haven’t explained _why_ we should care about Project In-Vitro.” Tony pointed out, crossing his arms over his chest. “Or what Project In-Vitro really is. I mean I think we can guess but how bout you elaborate, 16 and Pregnant.”  
“Jesus Christ, that’s not even-” She huffed in frustration. “You get moved into Project In-Vitro when you’re approved by the General. You get knocked up and locked up. They like to try and mix and match powers, see what’ll happen. Pop the sucker out and they knock you up again and again until you can’t any more. The kiddos get raised by HYDRA to become an army. Said army grows up and takes over the world. I don’t really want small children running around murdering people with their freaky powers but hey, that’s just me.”  
Steve could tell she was getting fed up with them. This was _big_ though, they couldn’t just hop into a situation and not have all the facts. “But why? These kids wouldn’t be able to do anything for years.”  
“They don’t care! What aren’t you getting?” Vixen looked at each of them, trying to punctuate her point by pointing at Steve then Bucky then Tony. “Howard Stark helped make a Super Solider so HYDRA came back with the Winter Soldier. You created the Avengers so HYDRA had to one up you. And what’s better than genetically modified humans? Natural born super humans. It’s the world’s most screwed up pissing contest.”  
No one said a word as what she had said sunk in. They were responsible for this. For _her_. For those kids. Steve knew in his heart that they would help her but something still didn’t feel right. They were missing part of the picture.  
“Look, I came here because I need your help to stop Project In-Vitro.” Vixen said, crossing her arms, carefully moving her left one. She looked straight at Tony and narrowed her eyes.  
“Me? What the hell am I supposed to do? Kidnap a bunch of super brats from a hidden facility? Yeah, let me get right on that after I achieve world peace.” He replied.  
“Are you always this sarcastic?”  
“Yes.” Several voices chimed in around the room. Tony huffed in annoyance.  
“Look, I can’t do it by myself. I might have Super Soldier strength but I’m only one person. These kids need to get out. You can’t let HYDRA destroy them. They’re children! Would you let your own child be raised by HYDRA?” Vixen turned pale as soon as the words left her mouth. Steve caught Wanda raising her hand to her mouth in shock but couldn’t figure out why she would look like that. Like-  
“Of course not! But how the hell are we supposed to get them?” Tony yelled back. The two stood toe to toe and glared at one another.  
“That’s why I came here! To figure out a plan! You’re supposed to be some kind of genius! Maybe start acting like one!” The young brunette screamed throwing her hands up in anger, forgetting her hurt wrist.  
“We’ll help.” Steve piped in. Everyone turned to look at him. Vixen straighten and seemed to visibly relax at his words. “But we need to know everything. Like who you are. You still haven’t told us.”  
“Are you sure you want to know?” She asked quietly.  
“Yes.” He nodded at her. “We deserve to know if we’re going to put our lives on the line to help you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote like 90% of this, got stuck on 3 parts (I ALMOST FORGOT TO PUT PEPPER IN FOR THIS CHAPTER BUT LIKE SHE IS SO IMPORTANT AND I NEEDED HER), then wrote bits and pieces for later in the story. BUT YAY done with this one! Thank you guys for the love, you're wonderful humans and I love hearing from you.
> 
> xoxo  
> shelby


	12. Chapter 12

“I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out yet. Sabrina over there seems to know but she’s got that whole mind reading thing which seems like cheating.” I replied, tilting my head towards Wanda Maximoff who seemed surprised at the fact that I knew who she was.  
“How did no one know though?” Wanda asked quietly.  
“That’s the big question isn’t.” I met her eyes and held them. The others watched us curiously. Stark seemed like he was about to burst open with a million questions. I ignored them though because she asked the one question that’s been bugging me since I found out. “Wouldn’t you think _someone_ knew? Clearly HYDRA did, I was picked for a reason. But what about SHIELD? Shouldn’t they have kept tabs on something like that?”  
“You think-” She paused and tilted her head. I didn’t think she was read my mind at the moment but I could tell she had figured out what I was thinking. SHIELD knew. They knew and didn’t tell anyone. They had left me there to become...this. “Ah.”  
“SHIELD knows who you are?” Captain interrupted. I turned to check him out. His arms were crossed and his stance tense as he watched me.  
“Someone in SHIELD does. Someone who didn’t want any of you knowing about me.” I replied vaguely.  
“Kind of a moot point now, isn’t it?” Falcon observed sarcastically.  
“Is it? Because personally I want to know who abandoned me in that hell hole so I can punch that someone in the face.” I shot back with a raised eyebrow, crossing my own arms over my chest.  
He nodded his agreement. “Touché.”  
“Would you just tell us already? I don’t have time for this.” Stark exclaimed with a dramatic arm wave.  
“Or the patience apparently.” I muttered. Sighing, I glanced at the ceiling. “Friday?”  
“Yes, Miss Vixen?”  
“How about you explain how I corrupted you first? Maybe they’ll figure it out.”  
“Of course. Miss Vixen was inducted into protocol Bloodline created by you, Boss. Scans at the Malibu home indicated Stark heritage. Per protocol Bloodline: all overrides, directives, data wipes, and management of any Stark AI must be of Stark DNA or authorized personnel. Current authorized users of Protocol Bloodline: Anthony Stark. Pepper Potts. Victoria Belle Stark.”  
“Victoria-” Stark croaked but I cut him off.  
“I prefer Vix. Only my mom called me Victoria.”  
I watched as Stark sat down, devoid of all color. He stared at me as if I had 12 heads.  
“You-” He swallowed and shook his head in disbelief. “No. That’s not possible.”  
“Clearly, it is. Trust me, it was as much of a shock to me when I found out. You’ve been trying to kill me for the past couple months, I mean talk about Daddy issues. But don’t take it too hard, Mom didn’t want you to know. Hell, she didn’t want me to know.” I joked. He continued to stare at me. I glanced at the others to see them in the same position. “Ok, you know who I am now. Can we get to work on stopping HYDRA? Also, I’m starving. Can we get pizza?”  
“No.” Stark whispered. I swiveled back around to see him shaking his head.  
“Fine. How about Chine-”  
“No. No pizza, no Chinese food, no storming HYDRA. You expect us to just-” He stumbled around for words for a moment. “Let you waltz in here and make us fight your battles? Because you _claim_ to be my daughter?”  
“Claim? Friday-”  
“GET OUT!” Stark spat. I tamped down the flinch I instinctively felt at the anger in his voice. He stood up and walked closer to me, rage seeping out of him. “I am not running a rescue center and I’m sure as hell not running a brothel for some Super Slut to make mini-murder machines!”  
“Right, sorry I asked.” Taking a deep breath to hold back tears, I hopped up and headed towards the landing dock door. A hand gripped my upper arm, stopping me mid-stride. Looking up into some dazzling baby blues, I tugged my arm back. “Let go.”  
“Where do you think you’re going?” Captain America asked.  
“Away from here. I do understand English, you know.” I stepped forward only to be pulled back once again. Sighing, I reached up and grasped his neck. “I don’t have time for this.”  
Captain’s face went slack at the touch but his grip on my arm was still firm. I pushed up and pulled his face towards mine, crushing my lips again his. Now, if I just push a little more - he dropped unceremoniously to the floor - there we go. My head felt lightheaded and I stumbled a bit as the captain fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Bucky was immediately in front of me, throwing a punch towards my face. I ducked, sidestepped to the left, and popping back up. My hand grabbed the back of his neck and I pushed my energy into him. I could feel him resisting but his flesh arm became more pliant. Unfortunately for me though, the metal one had a mind of its own.  
“Oopmf.” A crack shuddered through my ribcage but I held tight. Pulling him closer, I repeated my attack and kissed the fuck out of the moron. Bucky fell to the floor unconscious. White dots danced in my vision as I took in Black Widow coming at me.  
Shit.  
130 pounds of Russian assassin barreled into me. We smashed into the ground, she managed to get herself on top and pulled back her fist. I moved my head to the side but still managed to get half of my face bashed in. God damn it that hurt. Hitting the button on my watch, I grabbed her by the wrist and snapped it back. My knuckles met her ear as she drove a dagger into my left shoulder. I groaned in pain as I pulled the blade out but thankfully the blessed sound of glass breaking met my ears.  
“This has been fun but my ride’s here.” I panted, throwing my head forward to ram my forehead into her nose. Not hard enough to kill but enough to get her the fuck off of me. Shoving her off, I stumbled up to see a repulsor beam aimed at my head.  
“I think you need a time out, kid.” Stark said with authority.  
I grinned, feeling blood trickle down my chin. Flicking my hand, my board hovered behind his head. “Maybe next time, Pops.”  
Bringing my fingers into my palm, my board shot forward and whack right into the back of Tony Stark’s head. He fell to his knees, clutching his skull and cursing. Moving quickly, I pulled a gun from my boot and pointed it at Pepper.  
“Try it, Bird Man.” The ex-air force man held up his hands in defeat. I looked at the others in the room, Thor and Wanda stood in a fight stance while Vision, Bruce and Peter seemed stunned into shock. “Move and she’s dead.”  
“Vixen-” Pepper started but I cut her off.  
“I’d say it was nice meeting you but this has been kind of shitty. Now, do me a favor and don’t do anything stupid.” Grabbing the business woman, I held her close to my chest with the gun resting against her temple. Wanda’s hand twitched slightly and I pulled Pepper a step back. “Quiet hands, Charmed. I’m not asking again.”  
Slowly, we back up towards the broken glass. My board trailed next to us like a lost puppy. Widow and Stark stumbled to their feet across the room and watched us warily. When we reached the shattered window pane, I took a deep breath.  
“Lock him down, Friday!” I called as I shoved Pepper forward. Rolling onto my board, I pushed my knee down to activate the throttle. Bullets pinged off the board, one going straight through my thigh, and distantly I heard thunder rumble. I cleared the landing pad and dove.

“PEPPER!” Tony rushed to his fallen fiancé, gathering her in his arms. She pushed herself away from him and shook her head.  
“How could you do that?” Pepper demanded.  
Tony’s jaw dropped and he gestured out the window. “She’s a jacked up whore!”  
“She is your DAUGHTER! You’re unbelievable! She came to you for help and you just kicked her out onto the streets after basically calling her a prostitute. You’re supposed to be an Avenger! I can’t even look at you right now!” She pushed herself up and brushed off her pencil skirt.  
“Pepper-”  
“FRIDAY. Track her. Sam, Peter. Find her and bring her back.” Pepper strode towards the fallen super soldiers to assess the damage.  
“Yes, ma’am.” Sam replied.  
“Peter, there’s an extra suit in the loading dock for you. Just follow Sam.” She waved a hand over her shoulder. “Hurry.”

Standing up, I regretted everything instantly. White spots flickered in my view again. _Damn_ it. I was an idiot. My knees buckled as I passed an office building. My powers weren’t unlimited and I had gone _way_ past what was probably safe for me. Knocking out both Captain and Bucky had been a stupid move and I was now going to pay the consequences for being a moron. Not to mention the blood loss.  
I could feel two bodies on my tail. Taking a sharp right, I grabbed the edge of my board as I almost tumbled off. Glancing back, I saw Falcon bank around the corner with Spiderman swinging past him. When the hell did _he_ join in on this shit show?  
My brain was not equipped to handle this at the moment. Especially because Spiderman was almost on me. Pointing the nose of my board up, I began to climb.  
“Hey! Slow down!” The blue and red suited dude swung up with me. I leveled out and just gave him an are-you-fucking-kidding-me look.  
“Smooth, kid.” A deep voice said on my right. God damn it. Falcon flew effortlessly next to me. For a second, there were three Falcons next to me. Shaking my head, I opened my eyes back up to see only one. Fuck me.  
“What-” Spiderman came back to us a second later. “was I supposed-” He came back again on his web. “to say?”  
“How about something a little more demanding? I mean we are trying to bring her back.” The winged man glanced at me. “No offense.”  
“None-” And then everything went black.

“SHIT!” Sam shouted. Peter dropped with no hesitation. He watched as Vixen’s head hit the side of a building. Glass shattered as she ricocheted off and continued to plummet. Shooting out a web, Peter managed to aim straight at her, the web wrapping around her middle. Holding tight, he flung another web at a building to try and slow their descent a bit. The pull from the later web yanked hard on his left shoulder. Peter swung Vixen like a pendulum as gently as he could so she wouldn’t smash into the wall of the building. Her body moved towards him in an arch before slamming into him.  
“Oopmh.” Peter grunted. Pulling her tight, he waited a moment trying to gain back his breath. Sam joined him a moment later.  
“Got her?” He asked, holding her board in his hand.  
“Yeah. I’m going to just-” Peter let out a huff, trying to keep a good grip on her. “Tie her up then take her back. I can meet you there.”  
“It’s ok, kid. I’ll wait. Off chance she _does_ wake up, you will probably need some help.” Sam followed Peter to a fire escape, muttering to himself. “We’re _all_ going to need some help with her.”

The crowd of Avengers turned when they heard the landing dock door open. Sam and Peter entered silently, Sam joining the crew after depositing the board by the door while the younger man walked across the room. Peter gently placed Vixen on a couch, her arms and feet tied up in his web. Her head rolled to rest on her right shoulder. Blood streamed down from her hairline. Peter looked guiltily up at the tall blonde standing over him. “She uh - just kind of fell. Hit a building on the way down. Sorry, Ms. Potts.”  
“It’s ok, thank you, Peter.” Pepper sighed and looked around. Tony had stormed off after finding out that Vixen had locked all of his suits, Steve was currently unconscious on one couch, Bucky unconscious on _another_ couch, and the rest of the team seemed to be lost or nursing their wounds. What a disaster. “Is that doctor actually coming?”  
“In 2.68 minutes, Ms. Potts.” FRIDAY replied. Pepper thanked her and sighed. Mentally, she put a massage on her to-do list when this was all taken care of. With lots of mimosas involved.

I am dead. I have to be. Or maybe I lost a body part. I can’t actually be in this much pain and still be a full human, can I? Groaning, I cracked an eyelid and stretched. At least I tried. My arms got stuck though. I looked down to see...a web?  
“It’ll dissolve in about 20 minutes.” A woman said to the left of me. Pepper Potts sat typing away on her tablet in a comfortable looking armchair. She glanced at me and smiled. “Give or take.”  
“What happened?”  
“Before or after you collapsed and tried to stop your fall with your head?” Her sarcasm was on point. It was so much more effective with her unamused face.  
“After. I remember the before.” I muttered.  
“Mr. Parker brought you back. Caught you before you hit another building. You’re lucky he’s fast. Now, would you like to tell me what happened before?” She placed her tablet on the table next to her and leaned forward slightly. “I have two unconscious super soldiers and a very stupid fiancé to tear a new one so I for one would like to know what you were thinking?”  
Sighing, I wiggled myself into a sitting position. “Does it matter?”  
“Yes. It does. You could have killed yourself.” She scolded.  
“It was too much.” Pepper stayed silent and waited for me to continue. “I shouldn’t have tried to knock both of them out. It drained me and then I collapsed. I knew my limits and was stupid enough to try and ignore them. Can I go now?”  
“No.” She stood up and made her way towards the door, her high heels clacking sharply. “I’ll send the doctor in to check on you.”  
“How long are you planning to hold me hostage?”  
The imposing blonde woman turned to look me in the eye. “You are not being held hostage, Ms. Vixen. We just want to make sure you’re ok before you leave us.”  
“You might want better restraints then.”  
She squinted her eyes slightly with uncertainty. “Why?”  
“Unless you inject me with the meth-serum HYDRA made me addicted to, these won’t hold me very long.” I waved my wrists at her.  
“Meth-serum?”  
“Withdraw will make it a little hard to come up with the formula off the top of my head but yes, meth-serum. Very strong, lasts all day even with my new metabolism. Helps me sleep and also makes sure I come back to base within 24 hours.” Stupid General and his love of a 24 hour deadline. The man was certifiable. After being made into a supped up assassin whore rather than just a regular assassin whore, the General wanted to have some insurance that I would come back to him. And also wouldn’t defy him. My sister had just been one incentive but the meth-serum was almost a guarantee I would make it back and stay in line. He withheld it once or twice, had it worked out of my system, then put it back in. Essentially, the meth-serum was an actual strand of meth mutated to make sure that it would stay in my system. The withdraw symptoms kick in _fast_ though. I could already feel myself starting to sweat from the absence of the drug. “My last dose was over 23 hours ago. There’s a few doses in my board-”  
“I’ll ask Dr. Banner.” She said cutting me off. “In the meantime, the doctor will be in in a moment. Get some rest, Vixen.”  
With that, she shut the door. Well, fuck me.

“All Avengers to Level 45. Code Red. All Avengers to Level 45. Code Red.” FRIDAY’s voice boomed through the apartment. Without even looking at each other, Bucky and Steve sprinted towards the stairwell. Taking 3 steps at a time, they reached Level 45 in record time. Steve pushed open the door with Bucky stepping up right behind him to see the chaos that used to be their community lounge and Tony’s apartment. Bucky reacted instinctively. Rushing to Vixen, he pulled her off of an unconscious man in a white lab coat only for her to launch herself at his face. He shoved her onto the ground and sat down, trying to restrain her flinging limbs.  
“What happened?!” Steve roared, running over to help Bucky hold down Vixen.  
“I-I was going to talk to- Dr. Banner-I didn’t think-” Pepper stuttered in horror, kneeling protectively over a knock-out Wanda.  
“About what?” Steve said before being punched in the jaw, a growl escaping from the girl beneath him. He grabbed that hand and pinned it to the ground. Throwing her body weight to the side, Vixen slipping through the two of them and ran towards a couch. Picking it up, she flung it at Bucky’s head. Catching it lightly with his metal arm, Bucky tossed it behind him where it broke against the kitchen counter.  
“She said to lock her up. She-” Pepper tried to explain.  
“There are traces of methamphetamine and diamorphine in her system.” Bruce informed them. He stood near the elevators, ducking quickly when an end table came towards his body. “Get her to my chamber. That withdraw is going to last for a while.”  
“GET OFF ME!” Vixen roared, trying to rip herself away from Steve and Bucky. The two men had grabbed her arms, hauling her towards the elevator only for Steve to be kicked in the nuts. He went down hard letting go of her. Vixen pulled her arm free from Bucky and punched Steve in the face again. He spat blood out on the ground next to him.  
“I could do this all day, sweetheart.” He grunted as he body slammed her through a sofa and back to the ground. Her head whacked against the floor, leaving a dent behind as she rolled on top of Steve and wrapped her hands around his throat.  
“Damn it, Steve.” Bucky came up behind Vixen, wrapping his metal arm around her neck and pulled tight. Immediately, her hands flew to his arm and struggled to get him off. Listening to her gasp, Bucky carefully held her against him and waited for her to loose consciousness. Moments later, Vixen went limp against him. Scooping her up, Bucky held the young girl in his arms and raised an eyebrow at Steve. “Was it really necessary to tackle her?”  
“It worked didn’t it?” He rasped. Rubbing his throat, he stood and assessed the damage. Tony was going to be _pissed_. Between the three of them, every piece of furniture had been destroyed, there were a few holes in the walls, and the fridge was now in the hallway. “Let’s get her locked up before she wakes back up.”  
“I’ll follow you dow-Bucky? Are you ok?” Bruce looked in concern at the ex-Winter Soldier. Steve turned to see Buck standing still with a strange look on his face as he gazed down at Vixen.  
“She’s so pretty.” A dazed Bucky said. “Just look at her, Stevie. Her skin is so smooth-”  
“Pheromones. Damn, she must not be able to control them when she’s like that. Steve, help him bring her down and quickly.” Bruce ran off to the elevator, he turned and yelled back at Steve. “AND DON’T TOUCH HER!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoopsies. that happened.  
> Also just watched the Captain Marvel trailer. I'm more excited over the fact that Fury has TWO EYES than anything else. But it looks awesome.
> 
> xoxo  
> shelby


	13. Chapter 13

“Tony-” Bruce started.  
“Don’t.” He put up a hand to stop the doctor who sat at a desk behind him. Tony watched the girl sleeping through the Hulk-proof glass. This was a disaster. She couldn’t possibly be his daughter. He would’ve _known_. And if she was -  
Tony stopped that train of thought. No. She couldn’t be. It wasn’t possible.  
“Test her. For everything.” Bruce didn’t answer him. He turned to see his friend observing him.  
“You’re allowed to be freaked out, you know. Anyone would be.” Replied Bruce. Tony rubbed the bridge of his nose. He did _not_ want to discuss this. Especially since they weren’t even sure yet. “This is pretty messed up.”  
Pointing at the doctor, Tony croaked. “She can’t be.”  
“She might be.” Bruce countered. “And to be honest, I don’t need a test to see that she’s yours. We might not have realized it at first but just watching you two...Tony, it’s obvious.”  
“We don’t know.”  
“I’m not going to deny that. We don’t. But I’m telling you as your friend,” He met Tony’s eyes and held them. “She’s yours.”  
Tony turned away and faced the chamber again, looking at the dark haired figure. “She said she was picked for a reason. HYDRA knew who she was. If it’s true-” Tony stopped for a moment.  
“If it’s true, you think she’ll blame you for everything.” Bruce finished.  
“Wouldn’t you?”  
“Not necessarily. We’ve only had one real conversation with her but she’s seems pretty clearheaded on the whole situation. You didn’t know. _She_ didn’t know. How on earth could you have saved her if you didn’t know she existed?” He stood up and joined Tony at the window. “Everything will work out.”  
Turning abruptly, Tony strutted towards the door and called over his shoulder. “Let me know when you’re done running the tests. I’ll be in my lab.”

Bruce sighed as he entered his lab. He already missed the days when no one would bother him for days. Shaking his head, he closed the door behind him.  
“Steve. You shouldn’t be here.”  
The taller man turned and cocked his head. “I feel fine.”  
“Not what I said.”  
“It’s what you meant though. I’m not feeling anything from her.” Steve shrugged and turned to face the cell again. “How is she?”  
“Stable. It’s been 2 days and she hasn’t woken up yet which is the only thing her doctor is worried about. Brain activity seems normal though so her body is probably just resting.” Bruce sat down at his desk, spinning the chair to face the solider who still watched the young girl. “I really do think you should leave though. We don’t know how strong her powers are on you yet but she managed to control Bucky while unconscious. If you start to feel something-”  
“Which I don’t.”  
Bruce smirked at the sass from Steve but continued on. “If you start to feel something, I won’t be able to stop you. It’s safer for everyone if you stay away for now.”  
“Is that you or Tony talking?” Steve mused, crossing his arms across his chest.  
“Me. Although I’m betting Tony would agree with me.”  
“Have you-” Steve stopped talking as Vixen began to mutter in her sleep, her body twitching.  
“No stop-not-go-won’t go-NOOO!” She shot up, breathing heavily. Steve put out his hand towards the door when he felt Bruce’s hand clamp down on his arm.  
“She’s fine.” He said soothingly. Steve watched as Vixen flailed for a moment then settled back down onto the bed. “Steve, she’s fine.”  
“ _That_ didn’t look _fine_.” He spat, pulling away from Bruce’s grip.  
“It’s part of the withdraw. She needs to push through it herself, you storming in there will do nothing but upset her and possibly make her lash out.” Looking at the super solider carefully, Bruce sat back in his chair after being sure that Steve wouldn’t try to get to Vixen again. “And you’re sure she’s not affecting you? That was a strong reaction for someone you’ve known for only a few days.”  
“I’ve known her for a few months.” He countered.  
“Are you really counting those few moments? To be honest, you don’t know her at all. None of us do. And yet, you still tried to go and help her.” Bruce observed.  
“I would do that for anyone.”  
“Would you?” Bruce said softly. “It will take her a few more days to recover and until we know more about her-”  
“Stay away.”  
“Well, I would’ve said it a little nicer than that.” The doctor smiled when Steve raised an eyebrow at him. “I’ll keep you updated, ok?”  
Steve looked at Vixen once more before walking towards the door, stopping to put his hand on Bruce’s shoulder. “Thank you.”

I have to stop waking up like this. It’s not healthy. Not that I am by any means healthy but feeling like I was run over by a freight train two times in a row is probably not the best idea. At least I was on a mattress and not a floor. And this blanket was so warm. Yawning, I pulled the blanket over my head to go back to sleep.  
“Morning, Sleeping Beauty.” A gravelly voice said with too much perkiness. I peeked over the edge of the blanket and glared at the offender. A middle-aged man with brown hair that was going gray was hunched over a desk. Dr. Banner. A wall of what I assumed was something much thicker than glass separated us. “How are you feeling?”  
“Like I got thrown into a blender.” I croaked and tried to burrow back into my cocoon. Until the smell hit me. Jesus Christ, I was disgusting. There was a layer of sweat covering me and I’d been wearing the same clothes for _days_. I wasn’t sure how many days at this point but way too many. Sighing, I pulled the blanket back down. “How long have I been out?”  
“3 days.” He answered simply. I winced. Damn it. Liz was going to be pissed I hadn’t checked in yet. My jacket was nowhere to be seen so there was no way of contacting her with the stolen phone.  
“Wait a minute, why are _you_ down here treating me? You’re not like a doctor-doctor. I was pretty sure your doctor nonsense came from PhD’s.” I asked suspiciously.  
He turned and smiled at me. “You did your research. No, I’m not a _doctor_ in the medical sense but I am studying your biology and I’m in touch with the medical director for the building. He cleared you yesterday through my scans. The withdraw made your pheromone levels off the charts. It was safer if it was just me.”  
“Just you?”  
“For some reason, you don’t affect me. My wife is thrilled.”  
“I’ll bet.” I muttered. “Gamma radiation?”  
“Possibly.” He nodded, leaning back in his chair.  
“It doesn’t work on my sister either. The whole being a relation wouldn’t be a good thing. Probably a biological side effect of the Siren serum. I’m guessing it wouldn’t work on Stark if I really tried.”  
“That would be wrong. Him being your father and all.” Dr. Banner scratched his head awkwardly. I narrowed my eyes at him.  
“So it’s true.”  
“Came back positive. You, Ms. Victoria Belle, are half Stark.” He studied me a moment before continuing. “You seem surprised. That was a hell of a gamble for not being sure about all this.”  
“I didn’t have that many options. This seemed like the most effective one.” I shrugged then winced. Super healing didn’t mean overnight healing, my body ached in places I didn’t know it _could_ ache. “You said you did scans. What did you find out?”  
“Hmm? Oh, broken cheek bone, bullet wound in your thigh missed the artery by a millimeter, fractured wrist, no permanent damage from the fall but looks like there’s some healing scar tissue in there.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“This part here.” Dr. Banner stood and walked over to the giant screen on the wall between his desk and my cell. Using his tablet, he pulled up a scan of a skull with different colored parts of a brain on the screen. He pointed at the left frontal lobe. “Shows previous brain damage?”  
“Yeah, I got hurt when I was a kid. Our apartment caught on fire, I got knocked out after getting brained by part of the building. I’ve got a pretty cool scar on my thigh though. The hit to the head messed with how I talk. When I got into HYDRA they tried to make me learn all these languages. I could understand everything after learning it but-” Shrugging, I looked over at him. “I couldn’t speak it. Got a lot of lash back for that.”  
“How so?”  
“They assumed I was being a smart ass. Which granted, I am 90% of the time but I wasn’t then. I just couldn’t get my mouth to do what I wanted it to.” I omitted the punishments I received from that time. It wasn’t something I wanted to think about. “The mind wipe they did on Bucky wouldn’t work either. That’s actually why they started using the drug on me.” Dr. Banner tapped his fingers against the white counter of his desk thoughtfully. I raised an eyebrow at him. “What?”  
“You said you have a scar from it?”  
“Yeah?” My eyes narrowed in confusion at his question.  
“Has it healed at all?” He asked.  
“Noooo.” I said like I was talking to a small child. “It’s a scar, why would it heal?”  
“Just curious.” Dr. Banner shrugged and sat back down. I yawned, unable to stop myself. “Do you want to rest more?”  
“I’ve just slept for 3 days, I think I’ve rested enough.” I said, stretching my arms above my head. My back cracked in a few spots and I sighed at the feeling. “So. When do I get out of here?”  
Dr. Banner looked at me with disbelief. “You’re still recovering.”  
“I’m good. You just said the doctor cleared me.”  
“How about we start with some food first.” Rubbing his temple, he stood. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”  
The door shut quietly behind the doctor. Glancing around once more, I slouched against the wall in defeat. This stupid cell was unbreakable. The glass clearly too thick, no ventilation ducts bigger than my hand, no visible door hinges or locks to pick, nothing. I was still dressed in my black tank and black jeans but my boots, jacket, and all the toys I typically hid on myself had disappeared. A quiet hiss echoed in the room. Yawning, I laid back on the cot. Maybe if I closed my eyes for a second, I could-

“She’s awake.” Bruce informed Tony as he entered Tony’s lab. “I was going to grab her something to eat if you want to-”  
“Don’t bother.” Tony waved distractedly, watching his StarkTab. “She’s asleep again.”  
“Really?” Bruce asked suspiciously.  
“I may have encouraged it-”  
“Tony!” Bruce said rubbing his temples in frustration. “She can’t be unconscious forever.”  
“I know.” The billionaire looked up from the tablet and squinted at him. “So?”  
“So what?”  
“You _know_ what.” Tony exasperated. “The test results?”  
“Congrats, Tony, you _are_ the father.” Bruce said in his best Maury impression.  
“Shit.” He watched as Tony lost several shades of color. The term white-as-a-sheet had never been more appropriate than at this moment. Bruce actually worried that Tony would faint for a moment.  
“Should I call Pepper-”  
“No! No. I just-” Tony ran a hand through his hair, a wild look in his eyes. “ _Shit_.”  
He took a seat as Tony began to pace back and forth, muttering to himself. Looking down, Bruce glanced over the workbench before doing a double-take then pulled a blueprint closer to him. Dragging his eyes away from the paper, they landed on the actual project that was depicted on the blueprint. Interrupting his friend, Bruce loudly asked. “What is this?”  
“Bracelet. To keep her here. Track her. Data. For Vixen. Victoria. God damn it, what do I even _call_ her?” He panicked, his breath coming faster. Bruce’s eyes widened as he realized that Tony was going into a full-blown panic attack. Standing up, he stopped Tony with his hands on Tony’s shoulders.  
“Breathe.” Tony continued to gasp short breaths. “We’re here for you. For her. It will be fine. You don’t have to do this on your own. Pepper, me, Cap, the team, hell I bet Clint would come back just to help with this. We are here and we will help. Focus on something else. Tell me what this bracelet does.”  
“Bracelet, bracelet, bracelet.” Chanted Tony. His breathing slowly became smoother as he talked. “Made it out of vibranium. Figured she couldn’t break it off. It’ll shock her if she even touches a window on my floor. In her room. On my floor. Because she’s my daughter. God-”  
“Tony. Focus. The bracelet.”  
“Right. Bracelet.” Nodding, the genius continued. “It’ll track her movements and also track her pheromone levels. Along with everything else. FRIDAY could do it but I don’t want her manipulating anything until I can lock her out of FRIDAY. It’s like a shock collar for dogs, she steps out and it’ll shock her until she’s back on the level. It’s not connected to FRIDAY though, I installed it myself so it can’t be turned off.”  
“You’re putting a shock collar on your- on Vixen?” Bruce asked in shock.  
“Don’t give me that disapproving-dad tone. Do _you_ think it’s a good idea to let her run wild?” Burst Tony. “She knocked out Capsicle _and_ Buckingham.”  
Shaking his head in disbelief, Bruce replied. “All I’m saying is that ethically, I don’t agree with this. And if Pepper finds out, she might actually kill you.”  
“Did you have any better ideas?” Tony looked at him expectantly.  
“No. But I still don’t agree with it.”

“Morning, sunshine.” Tony said as he saw Vixen wake up out of the corner of his eye. He put the StarkTab down on the table next to him. She didn’t make a sound, just sat up and looked around the room. He turned in his chair to face her, watching her carefully but avoiding her eyes. They sat in silence for another minute before Tony couldn’t take it any longer. “Well, since you’re finally up, let’s go over some ground rules.”  
Silence. No _way_ this was his child.  
“Breakfast is at 7am, lunch at 12pm, and dinner at 6pm. Kitchen is a free for all but meals are made and ready at those times. If you need anything that’s not there, tell FRIDAY. That goes for everything really.” Tony started bouncing his leg slightly as he talked. “This is your StarkTab, everything will be monitored on it so no calls or secret emails.”  
She glanced down at the bracelet that encircled her wrist, the shiny metal links a stark contrast to her light skin. He continued when she looked back up at him. “ _That_ is your tracker. It’s made out of vibrainium, basically impossible to break. It’ll track your movements, collect data on your pheromone levels, and it’ll keep you on this floor. You are _not_ to leave this floor at any time. That’ll send 6000 volts of electricity through you if you step a hair off of the floor.”  
She blinked. Tony ground his teeth in frustration. He put a bracelet that could probably _kill her_ and she just fucking blinked at him. She couldn’t shut her damn mouth a few days ago and she’d been jabbering to Banner just hours ago.  
“You are not to use your powers _whatsoever_. I will throw your ass on the streets if I so much as see any indication of you using them. Are we clear?”  
Nothing. God damn, this kid was doing it on _purpose_ wasn’t she?  
“I said, are. We. Clear?”  
“Yes, sir.” She said, devoid of emotion. Tony looked at her again.  
“Good.” He waited a moment but she sat stock-still, watching him like a hawk. “You can do-” He waved a hand around then stood up. “Whatever it is that teen assassins do in their down time.”  
Shutting the door behind him, he pulled out his own tablet and pulled up the video screen to watch her. Vixen studied the room for a moment before carefully moving out of bed. She drank a glass of water, ate half of the sandwich Tony had left on the dresser, then-  
“Tony?”  
“GAH! Pepper! Hi, hello, dear.” Quickly turning off the tablet, he turned to face his fiancé. Distantly he heard the shower in Vixen’s room turn on. “Fancy seeing you here.”  
“What are you doing?” Pepper cocked her hip, placing a hand on said hip and looked at him suspiciously. Damn, she looked good when she did that.  
“Nothing.” He watched as Pepper leaned around him and plucked the StarkTab out of his hands.  
“Of course not.” Placing the tablet in her arm on top of her own, she watched him carefully. “How’s Vixen settling in?”  
“Fine. Fine.” He waved his hand before turning to go to the living room. Pepper fell into step next to him. “She’s showering.”  
“And you asked her to join us for dinner?” She asked, a twinge of hope lacing her voice.  
“Of course.” Hoping she didn’t see him wince, he continued to the kitchen to make himself a smoothie. He hadn’t actually _asked_ her to join them. But she knew. Of course she knew. Women just knew things. Like dinner. “What are we having, by the way?”  
“Pizza.” He gave her a surprised look which she rolled her eyes to. “Simple. Easy. And she’s 19. Young people love pizza. You’ve met Peter, right?”  
“Point.”  
Pepper took a seat as Tony began making his smoothie. She looked down at the table for a moment before looking back up at him. “How are you? With all this?”  
“Great. Couldn’t be happier.” Even he could feel the sarcasm in his voice. She gave him The Look. He sighed. “I’m just trying not to completely melt down, Pep.”  
Pepper stood and walked around the new granite counter top, putting her arms around his waist. “It’s ok if you do. I’m here. And I’ll still love you.”  
Resting his head on her forehead, he relaxed against her. “And that is why I love you.”  
“Not for my good looks? Or what was it you told Rhodey? My ‘unparalleled perfect ass’?” She grinned up at him as he groaned. Laughing, she gave him a quick peck on his cheek then gathered her StarkTab. “I’ll see you for dinner.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M BAAAACK. Woo hoo.  
> As someone who goes through panic attacks (for various reasons), I can tell you that the thing that KILLS ME is when people tell me to calm down. I hope my Tony-panic-attack is good, I haven't had one in a few months (yay) but I felt like I just could not even put the words calm down in there.  
> Hope everyone is good, I'm currently sobbing over the mushiness that is RDJ and Chris Evans. Someone save me. 
> 
> xoxo  
> shelby


	14. Chapter 14

I looked like a fucking mess. I have been _literally_ dragged through the mud at one point in my life and I looked worse than I did then. Greasy brown hair was lumped together on my head with some clumps tangled with dried blood. My normally fair skin was almost ghostly. And the bruises. Purple, green, yellow, even blue bruises covered 80% of my body. My thigh bullet wound was closed but red and puckered, the wound on my head was slightly open, and my wrist was still swollen. Every muscle in my body was sore and the bump on my head throbbed but hey I was still breathing. Points for that. After turning on the fancy ass shower and letting it warm up, I glanced once more at my beat up reflection then hopped in.  
 _AHHHHH._  
I will have fight club any day of the week with the muscle twins if it meant I could have a scorching hot shower like this after it. I might move in here. If only. Sighing, I worked on actually cleaning myself. Rust colored water drained away. I tilted my head into the spray of water, carefully scrubbing my face then hair.  
This was not going according to my plan. I also hadn’t expected my own father to call me a whore. It hurt a little more than I thought it would. I didn’t expect to be welcomed with open arms but shit. That was pretty harsh. Especially because I didn’t really want to be me. Rubbing my eyes in frustration, I forced my brain to turn away from that familiar dark path.  
Opening my eyes back up, they caught on the silver bracelet encircling my right wrist. He couldn’t _really_ mean 6000 volts, could he? That would be a little overkill. Only one way to figure that out. First thing’s first though, I _had_ to one: get out of here and two: call Liz and Peter. My stomach rumbled in protest. Three: food.

“Tony.” A deep bass voice said.  
“Nick.” Tony tapped the fingers of his left hand against his desk and stared hard at the screen in front of him. “Anything you want to tell me?”  
Fury rubbed his chin in a slightly mocking way. “Not that I can think of.”  
Tony’s right hand fisted hard on his lap. Bastard. “Really? Not a thing?”  
“Care to enlighten me?” Fury drawled. Tony pulled up a clip of Vixen’s demolition of his living room. Leaning closer, Tony raised an eyebrow at the man as he watched the video.  
“Want to try again? Maybe a phone a friend?”  
“Look, Tony-”  
“Do _not_ ‘Look, Tony’ me as if I don’t _understand_. My daughter. You kept my _daughter_ from me, Fury.” He spat the words, rage pouring out of him. Stoic eyes watched him through a screen. “There are a lot of things we’ve both done over the years. Questionable things. But this. This is a whole new level I didn’t think you were capable of.”  
“I-”  
“NO!” Slamming his hand on the table, he stood up in fury. “You let her be taken by HYDRA! If you wouldn’t tell me about her, I at least expected you to keep her safe! Every single thing you said you were against, that you fought against, you _LET HAPPEN TO MY DAUGHTER!_ I have been pouring over those files for _days_ , Nick. The things they did, I can’t- I will blame myself for this every day even though I _know_ that you’re the one to blame. _You_ let this happen.”  
“I know.” Fury stated matter-of-factly.  
“That’s it? You _know_? Are you fucking kidding me?!” He screamed at the screen.  
“It’s complicated.” Replied the former director of SHIELD.  
“Then _un_ complicate it for me.” Tony spat.  
“We kept tabs on her and her mother. Until the fire.” Tony recalled the fire report in Vix- Victoria’s folder. “We found three bodies. There was too much damage to identify the remains but they were the right size for Vixen, her mother, and her sister, Elizabeth. SHIELD felt it was better that you never knew. At the time, you weren’t- well, it was before you were Iron Man. What you didn’t know couldn’t hurt you. There wasn’t anything until SHIELD was compromised. After all the files were released, there was word that teen assassins had been active and becoming more active but we were a little busy at the time so it was never looked into. Someone managed to get a shot of Vixen which ended up in our hands and Hill actually was the one who recognized her. It turns out mom’s boyfriend, the father of Elizabeth, was HYDRA. The whole thing had been staged and low and behold, the long lost Stark had survived the flames. Imagine our surprise when she not only survived but became HYDRA’s poster child. When I came by last week, I figured it was time you two met.”  
“And you couldn’t just tell me all this? _Before_ she showed up on my doorstep?” Tony asked bitterly, folding his arms against his chest and sitting on the corner of his desk.  
Fury shrugged and leaned back in his chair. “Would you have believed me?”  
“Probably not.” Conceded Tony. Still fuming over the situation, he watched the other man carefully. “What am I supposed to do with her?”  
“Excuse me?” Fury asked in disbelief.  
“I think father-daughter dances are out of the question but seriously, Fury. What do I do? She’s an adult who kills people for a living and I have her locked up in my tower so she doesn’t knock out every person standing between her and the way out.” Groaning at the words that just left his mouth, Tony put his face in his hands. What is his life?  
“Why did she come to you?” Fury said, interrupting his pity party. Tony looked up at the screen. “You didn’t find her, right? She came to you. What does she want?”  
Waving his hand around, Tony explained briefly. “HYDRA is creating natural super soldiers. She wants us to help stop them.”  
“Has she talked about The Nursery at all?”  
“Only when she talked about the HYDRA Projects. There was talk of the subjects being moved to the ‘Nursery’,” Tony used air quotes to punctuate his sarcasm. Whoever was running the show at that leg of HYDRA wasn’t the most creative. “when she reached the final stage. After getting knocked up by Cap or Barnes, she’d - wait, wait, wait. You _know_ about this insanity?”  
“Not about you becoming Grandpa to Cap and Barnes Junior but we have been trying to find the Nursery for years. Bastard who runs it, The General, moves the damn place too much. Another thing that was pushed to the side when the world almost ended and then half of us disappeared. She didn’t elaborate on it?” Tony could see the interest in Fury’s eyes. The real question was what he’d planned on doing with the Nursery when he found it.  
“No. Although, we haven’t had much time for a heart to heart.” Tony answered.  
“See if you can.” Instructed the older man. “And you might as well stop HYDRA while you’re at it. Not like you have anything better to do.”

An annoyed hiss escaped my lips as I snapped my hand away from the air vent. Rubbing my fingertips, I sat on my new bed in disappointment. He wasn’t kidding about the 6000 volts. The pain faded fast but it still hurt like a bitch while the electricity ran through me.  
A knock echoed through the room. I froze and eyed the door warily. Another knock sounded followed by a friendly feminine voice.  
“Victoria?”  
Ah. Pepper. For an odd reason, I didn’t mind her calling me Victoria. She seemed so prim and proper, it felt right coming from her. Like Queen Elizabeth without the accent.  
“Dinner’s ready, if you’re hungry.”  
This was awkward. No doubt they had cameras on me and knew I was not answering on purpose. But I didn’t see the point in joining them. Like I had said to Cap...3 days ago? Days were starting to blur. But like I had said, I can take a hint.  
“Well, if you get hungry later, we’ll leave a plate in the fridge for you.”  
The clack of heels leaving echoed in the hallway. I pulled my long brown hair up into a ponytail and looked around once more. The room was a bust. Same for the bathroom. Pristine white walls, carpet, and drapes with the comforter the only pop of color in the room, a light mint color that was actually really pretty. Clothes were stacked and hung in the walk-in closet through the left door on the wall across the bed and the bathroom through the right door. I was actually pretty impressed with the amount of clothes stockpiled in there. Of course, I’d chosen a black tank and black jeans. No use in trying to look good when I’d most likely get blood on it. I learned early on that black hides bloodstains really well. There were also 7 leather jackets in there ranging from black to tan to an olive green one. Unfortunately _my_ leather jacket was missing. As were my other clothes. These were nice clothes, very expensive and soft, but they weren’t _mine_.   
I had inspected every inch of the room and there was absolutely no way out. That left exploring the rest of the floor once everyone went to bed. I could feel 11 bodies across the building, presumably the team was having dinner together. I wondered if they did that every night. Like a little dysfunctional family.  
My dinner’s at HYDRA had consisted of highly nutritional slop and water. Becoming a Siren had actually given me slightly more freedom and the chance to eat something other than mush. Throughout the years, I had smuggled food from the outside to Lizzie whenever I had the chance. I hoped she was gorging herself on real food while she was with Peter, it was the least she deserved after everything I’d put her through. A garlic smell wafted through the crack under the door, making my mouth water.  
 _Pizza._  
Shit when was the last time I’d had pizza? 3 months ago? 4? It had definitely been a mission. A middle-aged married woman who had borrowed me for the night. She’d been pleasant. Most of the women at least wanted to talk more than feel me up. My mouth watered as I smelled the delicious cheesy pizza. Damn. I hope that Pepper saved me some. Work first though. Eying the room again, I looked for something I could use to try and destroy this bracelet. There had to be _something_. Starting another search, I dove back into the closet.

This was the most awkward dinner that Bucky had ever had. And he was 102 years old. That’s a lot of damn dinners. Even if he’d been frozen on and off for years and forgot some of his social skills, he still had never had a meal as awkward as this. The only conversation that involved everyone had been about the _weather_. For a full house, it was pretty damn quiet compared to their usual fanfare.  
Steve sat next to him trying to not burst out with questions about Vixen. Pepper sat next to him, eying the hallway slightly hopeful every few minutes. Tony sat at the head of the table talking to Bruce but really talking _at_ Bruce and not really talking about anything that made sense. Bruce was on Tony’s right, trying to seem like he understood what was coming from Tony’s mouth. Nat sat next to Bruce, eating as if nothing was wrong. Sam sat across from him on his phone while shoving pizza in his mouth. Wanda came after him, playing with the crust of her pizza and silently talking to Vision who sat on her right. At the other end of the table, Thor was having Peter explain hashtags to him. Bucky didn’t even want to try to wrap his brain around _that_ right now. And between Peter and Bucky sat the elephant in the room: Vixen’s empty seat.  
Tony and Bruce has informed them that Vixen had been cleared by the doctor then moved to Tony’s apartment. The unspoken question of Vixen being a Stark was confirmed with the move. No one wanted to broach that subject even though they were all dying to.  
Dinner continued and became tenser as it went. Pepper forced herself to smile and act as if she had expected Vixen to stay holed up all night. Which didn’t surprise him at all. The girl had been beaten up, gone through withdraw, _and_ was now stuck in a tower with all of them. He wouldn’t be all that jazzed to sit through this either. What did surprise him was Tony trying not to distract Pepper. He seemed to be avoiding her a little. Glancing to his right, he saw Steve open his mouth. Bucky quickly squeezed his thigh in a silent cue to keep quiet. Once that conversation was started, it would only end in a fight which was not something they needed right now. Steve glared at him but closed his mouth with a huff.  
The troops disbursed quickly once dinner was over. On a normal night, a few of them would lounge and maybe find something to watch. Peter would control the remote while the rest would question every single show he put on for them. But tonight, no one stayed around and instead opted to retreat to their own apartments. Bucky discreetly dragged Steve into the elevator and the two rode up in silence. As soon as the door shut though, his boyfriend finally burst.  
“What the hell, Buck? You wouldn’t let me even ask-”  
“101 years old and you still have no tact.” Bucky huffed, walking towards their kitchen. He poured himself a glass of water then turned to face a steaming Steve. Leaning against the counter, he continued their conversation. “I get that you’re just trying to see if Vixen’s ok but you have to give them a chance to get settled. As far as we know, she hasn’t even left her room yet. It’s awkward and clearly Tony’s not handling it well.”  
“I know.” Steve said with a slightly defeated voice. He sat at the wooden table and looked up at Bucky. “I’m just-”  
“Worried.” He nodded, knowing how Steve was feeling. They were both anxious about Vixen but he’d never seen Steve this tense. _He_ was typically the rash one, it felt strange to be the person trying to soothe another. “Give it another day or so before you start using your Captain voice on Stark.”  
“I do _not_ have a Captain voice.” The eye roll Steve gave him was dramatic.  
“You do.” Steve opened his mouth but Bucky held up a hand to cut him off. “You probably don’t even realize you’re doing it but everyone else does. Once you start Captaining them, they all fall into line. I’m not saying you shouldn’t try and muscle some answers out of Stark but give him another day. He did just find out he’s a father.”  
“Right.” Steve watched him for a moment, studying him closely. “And how are you? We haven’t talked about the other day, when you remembered Vixen.”  
Rubbing his head, he took the seat catty-corner to Steve. “I haven’t remembered anything else. Just the baseball thing. But it wasn’t even her mentioning baseball that triggered it, it was...her face. Stark yelled at her and she flinched. It’s like that expression just unlocked something in my brain.”  
“Maybe you should talk to Shuri about it. She might have some suggestions about how to ease into those memories so they’re not as painful next time.”  
“Maybe.” Bucky pushed himself out of the chair and cleaned up his glass. “Come on, that bed has my name on it.”  
Steve smirked and followed Bucky towards the bedroom. “You just want me to use my Captain voice on you.”  
“Damn straight I do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't find the tumblr post right now but you know the one where it's like  
> Me: Trying to write  
> Writer's Block: *Chris Hemsworth rubbing his hands like an evil villain when he's playing family feud*  
> Save me.  
> xoxo  
> -shelby


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